Author: Katie L. Carroll (Page 139 of 142)

NFL’s Virtual Playbook Hilarity

October 10, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m always interested in emerging technologies. I recently encountered a gem in the Virtual Playbook, courtesy of EA Sports and ESPN. Previously, analysts on ESPN’s NFL pre-game shows simply acted out plays on a demo field. Sadly I wasn’t able to find a clip to show you (if anyone does, please post a link in the comments section!).

Now, I’ve always found this segment a bit amusing. Picture out-of-shape football analysts and former NFL players on a studio field (at least they had a real football) demonstrating NFL plays with the skills and speed typical of, well, out-of-shape analysts and former football players.

With the Virtual Playbook, this once technologically defunct segment has been upgraded to include analysts interacing in reality-based game scenarios involving video-game images of real football players. (See more details in this article…again, sorry about the lack of a real video.)

This technology may be able to answer such burning questions as: What if (insert name of favorite NFL quarterback) had completed that pass to (insert name of favorite NFL receiver), resulting in a touchdown for (insert name of favorite NFL team)? I know, something we were all dying to know about!

Let’s hope the world of sports will continue to create technologies that allow viewers to vicariously judge the actions of professional athletes for years to come!

SCBWI L.A. 2008 Conference Gems: Part 3

September 29, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

Okay, so here are the last few bits of wisdom I’ll share from the LA Conference:

The perfect ending is a surprise and is inevitable
Art is in the details
Fiction has a higher standard of believability than real life
Male energy is action, adventure, fun, and blowing stuff up; female energy is relationships, interaction, beauty of language, and character
Use male energy to make things happen and female energy to make people care

Bruce Coville (from his session “Plotting: The Architecture of Story”)

Try to create some semblance of order in the chaos of the world and within
Children are game for anything
Yearning is part of what defines all art
Use your very guts to spill out your very best

Susan Patron (from her speech “Endings: Surprising and Yet Inevitable)

Okay, that’s all I have for now. As my brother would say, “Think about it.”

The End of an Era with the Closing of Paul’s Hamburger Stand

September 26, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

It was a sad day when I learned Paul’s famous hamburger stand closed. In an article in the local newspaper, the owner—a guy whose name isn’t Paul—said the cost of running the business was too much. There was no warning, no big closing-our-doors party, no last chance to get a juicy cheeseburger, an order of mozzarella sticks, and a chocolate shake. Here one day, gone the next.

Paul’s wasn’t just a hamburger stand; it was a testament to an old way of life when serving a product of quality was king. My dad used to take us kids there all the time. During the Christmas season, he would give out $10 Paul’s gift certificates like they were business cards. The employees always knew his name, and they learned mine once I started going there on my own. The stand’s motto said it all, “Not serving numbers but generations.”

More than just the loss of a hamburger joint, though, Paul’s closing is a poignant reminder of how transient life is. It reminds me of when Harrison’s Hardware (the local hardware store that was around for over 90 years…I worked there while in high school and met my husband there) closed. It reminds me that Yankee Stadium will be torn down soon.

Yet as symbolic as these things are and as sad it is to lose them, they are just that: things. And worse than losing the things you love is losing the people you love. Still, I really do believe that humans are creatures of habit, and change, while inevitable, is unsettling. Without it, though, we wouldn’t have that little reminder to hold on tight to those things (and people) we love. Try not to take them for granted while they’re here because one day they won’t be.

How Do You Know Me Poll

September 12, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

I was curious to see how the readers of my blog (all four of you!) know me. Plus, I wanted to try out the poll option. Here’s to you!

(This originally appeared when my blog was still on Blogger and clearly didn’t transfer over to WordPress…I guess we’ll never know how the poll turned out!)

SCBWI L.A. 2008 Conference Gems: Part 2

September 5, 2008 / Katie L. Carroll

My picture made someone else’s blog! Wow, I’m almost famous! Lisa Yee is a YA author who presented at the conference. Check out the second picture on this post to see me attending her session on revision.

What you can’t find me? I’m all the way over to the right…the blonde in the bluish/green sweater…okay, so really about a quarter of me is cut off, but I’m still mostly in the picture. Well it was fun for me to see it, so I don’t care if you don’t care!

Here are a few more conference tidbits for you to ponder: