Category Archives: Immortality

David Urban knew the answer to the question almost before the question was even asked.

Renascent.

I can definitely spell that now, Urban said. I spelled it without the s. I possibly could have come across the word before, but I dont ever remember having seen it.

It was 1993, nearly a quarter century ago, and Urban was 13 and just finished seventh grade at Crockett Middle School. It was his second of what would be three trips to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

It was a more innocent time, unlike this weeks whiz kids at the spelling bee with professional tutors, year-round study and a $40,000 cash, among several awards, to the winner.

But 24 years ago, through 15 rounds at the Capital Hilton, Urban, who was 66th the previous year, found himself with Geoff Hooper of Arlington, Tenn., as the only two contestants remaining out of 234 spellers. One would be crowned national champion.

A few rounds before, when only six spellers remained, the parents were invited to go on stage. Dr. Steve Urban, with his lucky dinosaur tie, and wife Joan were among a handful with a close-up view of their children.

It was an anxiety-provoking event, Dr. Urban said. But once he was in the top 10 or so, it was really a feeling of elation. I kind of had the anxiety leave me.

Urban, by the unluck of the draw, would finish as the national runner-up, the highest finish ever by an area speller. Before and after that year, two local spellers have finished eighth.

There was anxiousness and nervousness countered by boredom. Its a stark contrast of just sitting there for an hour and half, and then all of a sudden, youre at the microphone and its pretty intense, he said.

After 13 rounds, three were left Urban, Hooper and Yuni Kim, 12, then of Pottsville, Pa., who would inadvertently later play a major role in Urbans life. Kim stumbled on apotheosize. Urban breezed through connubial and Hooper nailed stupefacient.

Then there were two.

Words were a blind draw, but, man, did Hooper get a couple of late softballs thrown his way. While Urban scratched his head on renascent, Hooper got enchilada. Yes, enchilada, a word Texans can spell by second grade.

Competition rules required Hooper to spell one more word to be champion, which he did. His word? Kamikaze.

I remember getting a little bit perturbed that the guy who won got substantially easier words than the ones I got, Urban said. If anything, maybe a little bit amused and annoyed.

There was a special room, Urban said, where contestants could privately cry, and with a punching bag in it, even vent. For Urban, he was thrilled to be second.

He was interviewed by a couple of TV stations in Washington, and was the banner headline on the June 4, 1993, Amarillo Daily News: Urban Blows It no, wait, Amarilloan finishes 2nd in spelling bee. The next week, they had a brief ceremony at City Hall to declare the day David Urban Day.

It was not a holiday anyone remembered, but it was kind of fun to have a ceremony, he said. Being a champion speller is not going to impress a lot of 12- and 13-year-olds.

Later that year, I got a letter from a lady in Minnesota who had seen me on TV and said I looked exactly like her grandson, and she included a picture of her grandson. I didnt see the resemblance, but Ill have to take her word for it.

Its ironic now, but in a time when spelling has decreased emphasis in school curriculum, the stakes and emphasis for the national championship have never been higher. Like age-group volleyball and basketball players, its essentially year-round.

A word like renascent would be a second- or third-round word now, Urban said.

Urban would start practicing just after the holidays. He would work for about 30 minutes a night, increase that to an hour or so in the spring, and increase that to maybe a couple of hours as the bee drew near. His dad was his coach. That would be positively quaint by todays standards.

To show how long ago that was, Urban got $4,000 and a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas. His parents have all the old encyclopedias they want. Daughter Elizabeth, now a professor of history at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, twice went to the national bee as well.

Urban, 37, graduated from Amarillo High in 1998 and got an English degree from Rice University in 2002. He went to graduate school to study English Literature at Princeton University. He then did an about-face, and for the last four years has been a computer programmer in New York City for a start-up company, Medstro, a social network for physicians.

But the National Spelling Bee runner-up did have one major perk. While at freshman orientation at Rice, he was approached by a freshman girl from New Jersey named Celina Fang. She asked if he was David Urban, a one-time spelling bee finalist?

I thought my fame had preceded me, he said.

Rather surprised, he said indeed he was. As it turned out, Celina Fang was a high school friend of Yuni Kim, who finished third in 1993 when Urban was runner-up. Who knew?

Celina Fang, a former reporter for the New York Times and ABC News, would eventually become Urbans wife. Theyve been together now for 16 years. Rather s-e-r-e-n-d-i-p-i-t-o-u-s for both.

Jon Mark Beilue is an AGN Media columnist. He can be reached at jon.beilue@amarillo.com or 806-345-3318. Twitter: @jonmarkbeilue.

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Beilue: In '93, Amarillo's Urban was one word from spelling immortality - Amarillo.com

The Memorial Day forecast is looking good, so enjoy the holiday and pause to think about why you dont have to go to work on Monday. I also suggest a trip to the meat counter at Dots Market. That is the recipe to a great cookout.

Im already sick of the LeBron vs. MJ debate. The NBA Finals havent even tipped off and thats all we hear. Who is better, James or Jordan? Thats subjective, so lets play basketball. LeBron is making his seventh straight trip to the Finals, a jaw-dropping statistic. Can he will the Cavaliers past the latest super team to dominate the league?

The Warriors are off-the-charts talented, but the Cavaliers are battle tested. I think it comes down to the style of play. If its a jailbreak, up and down the court, its Golden State. If the refs are allowing some extra effort on boxouts, then Cleveland has the edge. Ill say Warriors in six which should quiet the LeBron vs. MJ debate.

The Indianapolis 500 will be held today, weather permitting. I watched some of the Carb Day practice Friday. Not very exciting. I did learn that Honda motors have been problematic, so I guess its safe to pick a Chevy-powered car.

There are 18 Honda engines in the field of 33 cars. There are 15 Chevrolet engines. There are no engines powered by squirrels and none of them have carburetors. My oldest daughter is going to the race (these things happen when you send your kid to Purdue) and I shared that bit of trivia with her so she can impress her friends.

The betting lines for Week 1 of the college football season are out. Ohio State is a 21-point favorite on the road against Indiana in its Aug. 31 opener. That is a Thursday night game, so plan accordingly. I think that line will balloon, so it might be time to break the piggy bank and place a wager on Urban and the boys. With Kevin Wilson calling the offensive plays against his old team, this one could get ugly.

I checked on the Maryland-Purdue Big Ten baseball tournament game Thursday night just in time to see Maryland coach John Szefc make a fool of himself in the eighth inning. The game was tied when a Maryland player was beaned. The home plate umpire said he didnt attempt to get out of the way (he did). Szefc charged from the dugout and unloaded a barrage of F-bombs and BS this and BS that. The Big Ten Network picked it up, loud and clear. Hopefully the children were in bed.

Trending up: NFL hot dogs, Tim Adleman, Jose Berrios. The NFL is relaxing its rules on touchdown celebrations, which should lead to assorted injuries as players gyrate their way to the training room. Im not much on TD merriment; I prefer the Barry Sanders reaction to reaching the end zone. But if I had to bring back just one touchdown dance, Id go with Billy White Shoes Johnson.

Trending down: Justin Gilbert, Andrew McCutchen, Nationals bullpen. Gilbert, one of the Browns many draft-day mistakes in recent years, has been suspended for four games by the NFL for violating the leagues substance-abuse policy. Whether any team signs the wayward free agent so he can serve his time is questionable. Cleveland took the cornerback with the No. 8 pick in 2014, then grabbed Johnny Manziel at No. 22. Ouch.

KNUCKLEHEAD OF THE WEEK

There are a lot of football players named Michael Bennett, including one from Centerville. This weeks knucklehead is not our Michael Bennett. The Michael Bennett who used to be a star running back at Wisconsin and played 10 years in the NFL is staring at a five-year prison term after pleading guilty to felony charges in California. He was busted in 2015 after stealing the identity of his girlfriends parents and taking out $225,000 in loans. He reportedly broke into their house to steal papers that helped him fake his identity. Bennett was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft in 2001 so this is a guy who made some good money. And then fumbled it away.

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Second Thoughts: LeBron needs to get physical in quest for immortality - MyDaytonDailyNews

Diane Paulus was thinking about mounting a production of Peter Pan.

Then, a viewing of Finding Neverland, the movie explaining Peters creation, sent her in a new direction. The Tony-winning director was captivated by the 2004 film starring Johnny Depp as Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie.

Its about the power of imagination, she says. Its about J.M Barrie as a writer breaking rules which I love in the theater.

Plus, she was inspired by a couple of other fans.

I watched it with my two girls, Paulus recalls. I saw their faces light up.

The rest, as they say, is history. The touring production of Broadway musical Finding Neverland, directed by Paulus, opens Tuesday, June 6, at Orlandos Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

The musical explains how playwright Barrie came to create Peter Pan through his involvement with an unusual family.

Her daughters, Paulus says, would dance to the shows pop-flavored music while it was in development. It opened in 2014 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., where Paulus is artistic director.

Now 10 and 12, her girls have grown up with the show, Paulus says. Finding Neverland debuted on Broadway in March 2015, with Matthew Morrison (Glee) and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) in leading roles. It ran for more than a year.

I just always felt it was a show that could be shared across generations, says Paulus, who is based on New York. I saw the potential of kids coming to Finding Neverland and seeing the puzzle of how Captain Hook came to be, how did Tinker Bell happen?

Paulus, whose Tony came for the 2013 revival of Pippin, knows all-ages entertainment. She created Amaluna, a touring Cirque du Soleil show, and in 2003 directed The Golden Mickeys show for Disney Cruise Line. It would later also play at Hong Kong Disneyland, where it ran for more than a decade.

More people have seen The Golden Mickeys than any other show Ive created, she acknowledges with a chuckle.

Peter Pan wasnt part of that show He hadnt entered my life yet but Paulus has a theory on his storys enduring appeal.

Its about immortality, an immortality connected to the idea of a child, she says. A child inside us, the child we once were that maybe weve lost and that maybe we want to capture again.

mpalm@orlandosentinel.com

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Diane Paulus sees immortality in 'Finding Neverland' - Orlando Sentinel

The 2006 FIFA World Cup final between Italy and France in Berlin was delicately poised at 1-1 with 10 minutes to go in extra time when Zidane, after taking exception to remarks made by his opponent Marco Materazzi, sensationally head butted the defender and was sent off.

As France captain Zidane walked off the fieId, his glorious international career came to a stunning end.

Many fans around the world sympathised with the Frenchman who was clearly baited but the reality is that most of them will probably overlook his sublime contribution to the world game and will always remember him for his brain explosion in Berlin.

In much the same way as the little Argentine Diego Maradona will never be better known for his extraordinary exploits at the highest level than for his 'Hand of God' goal against England in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Zidane's bewitching dribbling that got him out of impossible situations, his jaw-dropping free kicks that defied gravity, his two headers that gave France the 1998 World Cup and his special volley that helped Madrid win the 2002 Champions League will be overshadowed by the 'Materazzi moment'.

It's ridiculous, unfortunate, unfair and cruel but that's the way it is: we do live in an unappreciative and unforgiving world, after all.

Zidane has an opportunity to reach the peak of the coaching ranks by leading Madrid to their 12th European title when they face Juventus of Italy in Cardiff on Sunday (AEST).

This clash, involving two of his former clubs, gives him a chance to become one of only four people to win the competition as a player and a coach for a second time. The others are Miguel Munoz (1960, 1966), Pep Guardiola (2009, 2011) and Carlo Ancelotti (2003, 2007, 2014).

Victory over the 'Old Lady' would also make him the first coach since AC Milan's Arrigo Sacchi in 1990 to win the Champions League two years in a row and of course make Madrid the first team to retain the title since the 'Rossoneri' 27 years ago.

Zidane took over the Madrid job midway through last season and in the space of a few months moulded a team of high-profile stars into an unbeatable unit that went on to win the UCL.

This season they beat old rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to the Spanish championship and are one match away from a notable double.

It is not unusual but certainly very hard to play entertaining winning football but Madrid under 44-year-old Zizou have managed to do this with deadly effect.

Zidane, arguably France's greatest ever footballer, will no doubt become the country's finest player and manager if he pulls off the Cardiff coup.

"You were the best player in the world and now you are simply the best coach in the world," Madrid president Florentino Perez said of his talisman during celebrations marking the club's latest championship win, their 33rd.

Even allowing for Perez's unbridled enthusiasm, few would argue with his statement.

"Every piece of advice he gives you is like gold dust and it helps you improve on the pitch," said Madrid's playmaker Luka Modric of Zidane.

Okay, some cynics would say 'give Zidane the Malaga job and we'll see how good he is'.

But the same could be said of high-profile managers Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, who do not exactly work with battling teams, do they?

And besides, football is littered with stories of top coaches failing miserably with star-studded teams at national and club level.

The final showdown at the Millennium Stadium will provide us with a storybook ending.

A Madrid win would confirm Zidane as a master manager and place him up there with the best of his contemporaries and consolidate Madrid's status as the world's greatest club in history.

Victory for Juve would seal the club's rise to the top from the ashes of Serie B and crown the amazing career of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who continues to defy the critics at the age of 39.

No one would begrudge 'Gigi' a title that has eluded him for many years and one he so richly deserves.

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Zidane on the cusp of coaching immortality | : The World Game - SBS - The World Game (blog)

Grey Advertising Agency just celebrated its 100th year anniversary. To put that in context, Mad Men looks like a young un. To kickstart the next 100, the company asked every employee to have an EEG scan of their brains while wearing a 3D-printed bio-sensing, brainwave-monitoring headset. The scans were done while the employee was solving a work problem. A series of art works called Brain Portraits were created from the colorful scans, a reminder of a companys greatest asset the diversity of its employees and the different skills they bring to problem solving. A forward-thinking notion coming from a company that named itself after the grey walls (and suits) in their office.

To amplify the theme of diversity, Grey invited a series of thought leaders, all exploring the boundaries of creativity to address their employees. I was invited to sit in and listen to a Q&A with Martine Rothblatt. Rothblatt is the extreme embodiment of creativity, diversity and a borderless future.

Born Martin Rothblatt, Martine underwent gender reassignment surgery in the 90s to become Martine. Today, she is the CEO of United Therapeutics and the highest paid woman CEO in the US. Rothblatt created the company to help find a cure for her daughters health problem, pulmonary hypertension. In the process of finding a cure she managed to get a helicopter pilots license and learn a lot about using pig organs for transplants, because it had to be done. Before United Therapeutics, Rothblatt worked on two other pioneering companies, Sirius XM and GeoStar, both based on heavy-duty satellite expertise.

But its Rothblatts almost religious belief in immortality that gave the audience the most to chew on. For Rothblatt, its an ongoing story of the difference between borders and boundaries. Claiming that we are acculturated to going with the flow, Rothblatt believes that life imposes borders and we can push them. Boundaries, she says, like the end of the universe are a bit more finite.

Death is optional, she says. In a world obsessed with borders she postulates that when we begin to question borders as finite that innovation happens.

Rothblatt pushes the borders of what it means to be human and conscious. Consciousness, she argues, is a just a border, not a boundary.

Her proof point is an ongoing experiment with porting consciousness into inanimate objects. BINA48 is its embodiment. BINA is an anthropomorphic replica of Martines spouse, whose name, not coincidently, is Bina. (Since Bina was 48 years old when the project began, the robotic head designed by Hanson Robotics is named BINA48.) The disembodied head has thirty motors beneath BINAs lifelike face that let her run through the gamut of human emotions as she holds a conversation with you. Hundreds of hours of interviews with the real Bina have allowed BINA48 to capture her essence. Rothblatt believes that its through creations like BINA we can all achieve some degree of immortality. Transcendence, she says, is breaking the border between life and death. The boundary becomes a border or, as Rothblatt likes to say, prodigy integrates pedigree as we begin to upload consciousness into cyber-consciousness.

Hanson Robotics

In the near future, we will be able to visit with the consciousness of loved ones whove left their bodily form. And, on a less sci-fi note, there may be a payoff for companies to set a little time aside to think more colorfully.

Robin Raskin is founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations that intersect lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces conferences and expos at CES and throughout the year focusing on how technology enhances every aspect of our lives through the eyes of todays digital consumer.

Start your workday the right way with the news that matters most.

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Pondering Creativity, Immortality and Borders with a 100 Year Old Ad Agency - HuffPost

INDIANAPOLIS Who will be the NEXT driver to win The Greatest Spectacle in Racing?

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway stage is set for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil today with a lengthy list of intriguing contenders in search of the ultimate accomplishment and the prestigious honor of adding their name and likeness to the Borg-Warner Trophy.

2008 Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon will start from the pole for a third time in his No. 9 Camping World Honda. He is one of seven former winners in this 33-car field, joined by three-time winner Helio Castroneves, two-time winner Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Buddy Lazier and defending champion Alexander Rossi.

Its always hard, Dixon said. Its competition, man.

The best of the Verizon IndyCar Series full-time drivers is joined by several one-off entrants, including the most celebrated newcomer in recent history, two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, whose No. 29 McLaren-Honda-Andretti Honda qualified fifth.

I hope he does well, defending series champion Simon Pagenaud said of Alonso, because it will keep a lot of people interested.

As Alonsos inclusion and the subsequent worldwide media attention reminds, this race defines careers. Pagenaud, who qualified 23rd in his No. 1 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet, is just as succinct about what the Indy 500 means.

I wont be complete until I win this race, Pagenaud said. I do believe I can.

Andretti Autosport has six cars, the most ever for Michael Andretti, who is looking for his fifth Indy 500 win as a team owner. Among those entrants is his 30-year-old son, Marco, who desperately wants to achieve what his father could not as a driver. Marco Andretti, the grandson of 1969 Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti, has come close so many times in finishing second as a 2006 rookie, third three times and fourth in 11 starts.

I believe having an awesome car here is only 60 percent of the battle, said Marco Andretti, whose No. 27 United Fiber & Data Andretti Honda will start eighth. You need to be in the top five to have a chance at the end. The way it seems, when youre following three or four cars its tougher to pass because they have enough of a tow; theyre going fast enough. Top three is ideal in a shootout, for sure.

Ive lost this race because I trimmed, and Ive lost it because I didnt trim. We hope to make the right decision.

Graham Rahal is also looking to add to a family legacy. Rahal, the son of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, qualified 14th in the Steak n Shake Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Graham Rahal has two top-five finishes in nine starts, including third in 2011.

Running well on Carb Day definitely gives you confidence for the race, Rahal said after posting the sixth-fastest speed in Fridays final one-hour practice.

Starting alongside Dixon in the front row is another familiar face, two-time Indy 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter, who grew up in Indianapolis with dreams of winning this race. Carpenter, the series only owner/driver, is confident his No. 20 Fuzzys Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet can fulfill his destiny. Carpenters best finish in 13 starts is fifth in 2008.

Theres been so much heartbreak here over the years, Carpenter said. Theres certainly a ton of things you can do to control the outcome, but even if you get everything right, it doesnt mean youre going to win.

Kanaan was denied in so many close calls before becoming one of the most popular winners in 2013. Hes also finished second, third twice, fourth twice and fifth in 15 starts. This time, he starts seventh in the No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Kanaan contends that the track chooses the winner a driver in the right place at the right time is ultimately rewarded at the end of this 200-lap test of endurance and patience.

I do believe that, 100 percent, Kanaan said. I have no doubt.

One of his best friends in racing, Castroneves, has hopes of finally winning for a fourth time and joining the Hall of Fame contingent of A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser in that distinction. Castroneves starts 19th in the No. 3 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske Chevrolet.

It changed more the first time when I won and did not know about it, Castroneves said of his perception about the Indy 500 after his triumphant debut in 2001. Im still learning, to be honest, the history.

Although Alonso is an Indy 500 rookie, he raced at this venue five times in F1. He finished second in the 2007 United States Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Career ambition has brought him back, but this time to compete on the 2.5-mile oval. Alonso, a 35-year-old Spaniard, has his sights set on the career triple crown; hes won the Monaco Grand Prix and needs the Indy 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans to become just the second driver to accomplish this feat. The other was Graham Hill, who won the 1966 Indy 500 in his first attempt.

"When we came here in Formula One, it was just something special, because we were racing first in the States, which is always something amazing for Formula One, and secondly, (in) the biggest place in the world, Alonso said. I remember coming here (in 2001), the first year that I raced here, and, yeah, I was taking pictures of the entrance for the speedway. You know, capital of the world, motorsport. I was taking pictures.

So it's a special place for motorsport in general. To race here in May (for) the Indy 500, it feels (like) quite a big thing.

Indeed it is. And today, one driver will stand alone as a champion in the greatest race in the world.

Who will it be? Who has what it takes to add their name to his glorious legacy?

If you dont believe it, Pagenaud said, youre not going to win it.

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Who will be NEXT to achieve Indianapolis 500 immortality? - INDYCAR

By Ralph Negron

Memorial Day is an old and established American tradition that dates way back to the Civil War. Following the war, Union veterans began honoring their fallen comrades by taking time every spring to decorate their graves. Confederate veterans followed the tradition as well, ultimately resulting in the federal government designating the last Monday of May as an official holiday to remember all members of the armed services killed in the line of duty.

Observance of Memorial Day has morphed into a significant American holiday that has strayed far from its roots. Today many Americans associate Memorial Day with the running of the Indianapolis 500 and other festive events that signal the beginning of summer fun. In all the hoopla, the simple message seems to have been forgotten.

In addition, many people have difficulty differentiating between Memorial Day and Veterans Day in November. Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, a separate but important holiday honoring members of the armed services, present and past, for their service to our nation. It is understandable why Americans might be confused by both holidays since less than 1 percent of the American population is on active duty in the armed forces. According to the Veterans Administration, only 7 percent of the population has ever served in uniform. On Veterans Day in November, thank a veteran for his or her service. On Memorial Day, say a little prayer for the young men and women who gave their all for our nation.

Nobody ever goes to war thinking that they will never return; rather, to most young men and women, war is simply a digression from everyday life plans -- perhaps to marry a high school sweetheart, buy a new car, finish college, or buy a house and have kids. All these dreams are simply put on hold until they can get back home and resume their lives. Most young adults have a feeling of immortality as they march off to war. They are oblivious to death, an affliction suffered only by the old. The immortality of youth is not a novel idea. It has been a popular theme in literature going back to the first epic novel ever written in Western civilization -- Gilgamesh. At some point, the reality of war sinks in and the notion of immortality starts to wear thin. Perhaps it occurs when the first shots in anger are fired or when a buddy is killed.

As a young Marine lieutenant bound for Vietnam, I found reality as I waited with a group of fellow Marines at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa for our flight to Danang Airbase in Vietnam. While we waited, we all paused in silence, perhaps the deepest silence I have ever experienced, to watch 12 or 15 coffins loaded onto an Air Force cargo plane. The early morning mist and the eerie silence captured for me one of those forever moments that you never forget. I recall that a young lance corporal in the group broke the silence by loudly exclaiming Holy ----, those are ------- coffins! He was absolutely right and was almost instantaneously shut up by a gunnery sergeant who wanted the rest of us to continue our meditative trance. I imagine others in the group had also reached their reality point. Our dreams for the future were now mixed with the stark reality that we may never see home again.

The real heroes of any war are those who never return home. They paid the ultimate price for a war that they did not start. Youth have not been around long enough to know the meaning of a lifetime. It is not until you have been through a lifetime that you can appreciate it. After 50-plus years of marriage and having nine grandchildren, I can now define a lifetime, and it saddens me to know just how much of it they missed. Old soldiers never die because its the young ones who do the fighting. Many never had a chance to marry, have kids, or even buy a new car. Their lofty and noble dreams, which we all take for granted, were shattered along with those of their family and friends.

This is why we observe Memorial Day. May they rest in peace knowing that a grateful nation keeps them in their thoughts and prayers and celebrates their memory on this their special day.

Ralph Negron, a Vietnam veteran, lives in Hyannis.

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On Memorial Day, remember the young soldiers who thought they were immortal - Cape Cod Times (subscription)

Lions coach was once asked what he actually does. It is his fervent hope that the All Blacks are about to find the answer

Stephen Jones, Rugby Correspondent

Warren Gatland has been a success wherever he has coached. He revived Galwegian RFC in Connacht when he became their player/coach; he revived Connacht, Ireland and then Wasps the club were bottom of the Premiership when he took over as head man in 2002. Waikato were successful when he made one of his occasional prodigal returns to his homeland in New Zealand; he came back again to revive Wales and made them the best team of the era in the Six Nations.

The only black mark on his career is the almost complete failure against the three southern hemisphere nations, because against all other teams, his record is in the black. The traditional and bitterly frustrating inability of Wales to show anything like their

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Gatland's shot at immortality - The Times (subscription)

The end, whenever it came, was always going to be too soon for Katsushika Hokusai. There was still so much to see. So much he had not painted. On his deathbed, Hokusai, attended by his doctor, said a prayer. If heaven will extend my life by ten more years. He paused and made a private calculation. If heaven will afford me five more years of life, then Ill manage to become a true artist. He may have been 90, but he wasnt done yet.

In life, Hokusai (17601849) painted dragons, creatures of long life, by the dozen. He has them disappear in puffs of inky smoke, then reappear across the page. He painted the phoenix, bird of resurrection. He painted Mount Fuji, immutable, enduring, outlasting all his fellow painters, calligraphers, woodblock-cutters and sellers of coloured books who scrabbled for a living in Edo, modern Tokyo. They were but cherry blossoms, pink for a season, maple leaves washed away by a current.

He changed his name more than ten times in his long life. In his seventies, he was Manji, which meant ten thousand things or everything. That is what he wanted to paint everything. The 15 volumes of the Hokusai manga (18141878) went some way towards it: a pictorial encyclopedia of everything under the sun: frogs, snakes, samurai, sumo wrestlers, parasols, fish markets, farm ploughs, oceans and tea bowls.

He signed his woodblock series One Hundred Views of Mt Fuji (1849): Brush of Manji, old man crazy to paint. He does look a bit mad in his 1842 Self-portrait, aged 83 (see p49) skinny, stooped, his face wrinkled and puckered as a pickled plum, pointing at something hes seen in the distance. Something to sketch? He looks as if hes turning to call to someone, perhaps his daughter Eijo, an artist in her own right, asking her to bring his brush and ink. Not his glasses, though. He proudly signed his surimono luxury print Pine tree and full moon (1848): eye glasses not needed.

If a work wasnt up to snuff, he excused it with the note: painted while drunk. He would sooner admit to inebriation than infirmity. In his last years, he stamped a one hundred seal on his paintings a statement of intent to reach his century. Only then could he call himself a true artist.

From the age of six, he said, I had a penchant for copying the form of things, and from about 50, my pictures were frequently published; but until the age of 70, nothing I drew was worthy of notice Thus when I reach 80 years, I hope to have made increasing progress, and at 90 to see further into the underlying principles of things, so that at 100 years I will have achieved a divine state in my art, and at 110, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive.

The British Museum dedicates its summer exhibition Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave to the Hokusai who at 70 was just beginning. He joins Titian, Rembrandt and Turner as an artist who became more inventive, restless, curious and daring in his dotage. Like his near-contemporary J.M.W. Turner (17751851) he was mesmerised by water in all its moods. How to catch its movement, light and colours. Beyond the Great Wave asks us to see more of Hokusai than his much-reproduced Great Wave, properly: Under the Wave Off Kanagawa (1831). You could drown in Great Wave souvenir socks, scarves, key rings, duvets and tea towels. Theres even a Great Wave emoji.

While there is more to Hokusai than the tsunami wave that curls like a dragons claw above a Mount Fuji no higher than a molehill, waves and water do swell and roil through his work. One of his earliest woodblock prints was of the Kabuki actor Segawa Kikunojo III as Oren (1779), made when Hokusai was 20 and working in the workshop of Edo print-master Katsukawa Shunsho. The screen behind the actor is painted with the very first of Hokusais angry waves. It threatens to crash out of the painted surface, soaking the actor as he preens in his kimono.

Shunsho was the leading producer of ukiyo-e floating world woodblock prints. The floating world was Edos pleasure quarter. A place of geishas and kabuki theatres, transgressive and unregulated. Uki means floating, frivolous or carefree.

The ukiyo-e prints of beautiful courtesans (bijin-ga), portraits of actors (yakusha-e) and erotic couplings (shunga), found a keen, literate audience. A merchant or artisan could buy a print of Hokusais Beauty with an umbrella under a willow (c.18014) for the price of a helping of noodles. The most successful prints could sell in their thousands. Hokusais later landscape prints such as the Views of Mt Fuji, among them Under the Wave Off Kanagawa, may have run to 8,000 impressions.

Views of Mt Fuji was printed with Prussian blue mixed with traditional Japanese indigo. This pigment aizuri ichimai newly arrived from Europe gave an extraordinary, deep, saturated colour. Hokusai, steeped in blue, paints waves, waterfalls and whirlpools, eddies and seasick swirls. Waterwheels turn and tip; a fisherman strains against his lines; porters wade across the river Oi with pilgrims on their shoulders; skiffs battle the current. Carp swim against rapids; plovers skim the surf; and ducks dive for pondweed, up tails all.

He amused the shogun Tokugawa (176086) with his chicken trick. He painted a broad band of blue on a long sheet of paper. Then, pulling a live chicken from a bag, he dipped the birds feet in red ink and had it run across the sheet. He called it Autumn leaves on the Tatsuta River.

He liked to show the wind whipping the spray or, in mischievous spirit, lifting skirts, stealing hats and carrying off umbrellas. In the woodblock print Ejiri, Suruga province (1831) a straw hat is blown off and soars upside-down like a flying saucer. In other prints, snow settles on the peaks of pointed hats, and climbers of sacred mountains lift their brims to see the way. He drew Fuji with a hat (c.1834) showing the top of the mountain wearing a kasa-gumo a cap of cloud.

When Japan opened to the west after 1854, prints by Hokusai and his contemporaries Ando Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro flooded European art markets. Hokusais prints were bought by Van Gogh and Gauguin. The flat modelling of ukiyo-e style was taken up by Manet, Whistler, the impressionists and les nabis. Calligraphic black lines in sumi Chinese ink inspired Bonnard, Degas and Aubrey Beardsley. The brocade richness of colour and patterning influenced the Pre-Raphaelites, the arts and crafts movement and Tiffany. Hokusais delight in the littleness of everyday life a geishas toothpowder, a kitten pulling its leash thrilled Baudelaires Painter of Modern Life crowd. Modernism begins with Hokusai.

Today, the smartphone apps Prisma and Moku Hanga turn your holiday snaps into ukiyo-e prints. I am in Tokyo as I write, Hokusai-ing my photos and playing spot-the-hat at the Sumida Hokusai Museum. We have arrived, everyone tells us, just late for the cherry blossom. Too short a season.

Excerpt from:

How Hokusai achieved immortality - Spectator.co.uk

CRAIG GORDON speaks about staying in the moment which must be pretty difficult when only days from possible immortality.

Make no mistake, should this Celtic team, on the 50th anniversary of the clubs greatest achievement, win a treble without losing a single game, the names of the players will never be forgotten.

They wont be up there with the Lions including the years before and after 1967 but this group will be put on the same pedestal as the beloved centenary double winning team and Martin ONeills great side which made the clean sweep in 2001.

Read more:Leigh Griffiths: This is a chance for Celtic players to become legends

History beckons for Gordon and his team-mates. Just one final push against an Aberdeen team they have already beaten five times this season, including once at Hampden, and all their dreams will come true.

Asked about becoming invincible, which remains a strange question, Celtics goalkeeper said: You never think you are going to do that in a career at any level in any league.

The opportunity we have to go and do that now is enormous and its something that would be remembered for a very long time. But at the same time we have to concentrate on this game.

If we start looking beyond that at records and things that could be said in the future about this team, it wont matter if dont win the game. We cant think too far ahead. We have to stay in the moment and if we prepare as we have been for every game well do alright when the game comes around.

If we didnt win the final it would take a bit of getting over, but thats football and these things can happen. But we have an incredible opportunity to make sure thats not the case.

Read more:Leigh Griffiths: This is a chance for Celtic players to become legends

Players will make mistakes, but we have to continue to pull for each other and make sure we come out on top. Weve come back from situations and gone on to win games and that had just grown from the start of the season.

Every challenge we have been set we have come back from and when you start doing that you start to feel every situation is possible no matter what happens in a game.

"Nobody panics regardless of the situation, everybody stays calm. We do what we have to do to make sure if we are winning games. It doesn't matter if somebody has to come off, or we need to change the shape, or whatever it is, that is what needs to be done, everyone sticks together. We have done that really well this season.

Nobody knows for sure, apart from Gordon himself, how close he came to joining Chelsea in January which would have meant him missing all this.

His heads was turned and who could blame him. The English champions tend to pay their employees pretty well and so it was an inviting offer despite everything he had at Celtic Park.

In the end he stayed, won a new contract, and after what we all know was a sticky start to the season, Gordon has gone on to enjoy another fine campaign.

He said: Whats done is done and you move on and play away. Chelsea picked up the league trophy, but the chances are that I might not have played very many games in terms of achieving of that.

I walked out at Celtic Park to the show of the Lisbon Lions, and basically the show of that whole day, and lifting the trophy, was phenomenal, brilliant.

Read more:Leigh Griffiths: This is a chance for Celtic players to become legends

"There would have been positives no matter what. I'm quite happy with whatever would have happened. But that was a good day and hopefully there are more to come.

Gordon won the Scottish Cup as a Hearts player in 2006 when they were almost as heavy favourites as Celtic will be on Saturday when they took on tiny Gretna who had defied all odds to reach Hampden.

That Hearts side split the Old Firm, were full of good players, but were to find out that winning major silverware is not so easy.

Gordon recalled: It was a great day, although it took us slightly longer to win the cup than we would have liked. It was a difficult game.

"It had been a long, hard season for us at Hearts. We had a lot of changes, different managers but we still managed to split the Old Firm at the top of the league with not a very big squad.

By the time we got to the cup final, we were kind of running on empty to try and get over the line. It took us penalty kicks to finally do it.

We went into with confidence. We had just got into the Champions League qualifiers by finishing second in the league. So I dont think we felt under more pressure.

There was certainly a bit of tiredness there at the end of the season but I dont think there was any over-confidence. It was a very warm day and we struggled to play the way we had been playing, with real intensity and pressing.

Its hard to envisage Celtic encountering the same problems come Saturday afternoon.

Go here to read the rest:

Craig Gordon is trying to live in the moment with Celtic immortality perhaps just a day away - Glasgow Evening Times