In the Defense of LeBron

Don’t get confused, this isn’t an article defending LeBron. I’m among the same mob of basketball fans that wouldn’t mind if he never wins a championship. However, it is impossible to not watch him and realize what an absolute beast of an athlete he is.

The Knicks have had a roller coaster of a season, that’s for sure, but they were really hitting a hot streak down the stretch. Their lineup has been all over the place, what with temporary Linsanity and all that, but players showed up to play and exceeded expectation. Since Mike Woodson took over, they went 11-1 at home. That singular loss at Madison Square Garden was to the Heat, so it only makes sense that the Knicks, no matter how good they were at the end, would hit a brick wall when matched up against Miami in the first round.

Carmelo Anthony has been on the warpath, reminding everyone of what he’s capable of, but when it came to the Playoffs, the Heat shut him down. As much as I can’t stand them, Miami looks even better than they did last year because of the simple fact that LeBron has taken a deep breath and stepped it up on defense. There is no doubt about his offensive prowess but all of last year he played a different kind of defense. He was busy playing it off the court.

Now, like I said, I have no interest in defending LeBron, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand him. LeBron has almost never played basketball without someone watching. He was already a star by his sophomore year of high school, crowned a “King” soon after, and drafted with the overall top pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He would become the Rookie of the Year in the same state that had named him “Mr. Basketball” for the three years in a row before that.

In this Age of Information, where ESPN plays Sportscenter up to 12 times a day, LeBron’s story was a goldmine. He could do no wrong, bringing glory to his hometown team, and helping the USA win Gold in 2008. The media ate it up and fans of the sport rooted for the golden kid. However, after losing in the finals to Spurs in 2007, the only success that still evaded James was an NBA Championship. He would be named NBA MVP for the next two seasons but would not match the playoff success of 2007.

With his ring finger still bare, LeBron became one of the most sought after free agents in recent history and the attention surrounding it was unparalleled. LeBron, used to the attention by now, gave the media what it wanted. His every move and meeting was analyzed, leading up to “The Decision,” an hour long special to announce his signing. Next, Miami introduced the big three with a firework show worthy of the Fourth of July. It was flashy and extravagant, supposed to be a celebration, but instead it reeked of arrogance.

Just like that, LeBron went from Hometown Hero to the most hated man in America. In hindsight, the kid crowned king should’ve realized how quickly the masses could turn on him. LeBron didn’t help the situation at all, continuing to make a spectacle of his every decision: commercials addressing his thought process, tweets responding to his critics. He tried to salvage his image in light of this P.R. disaster, all while doing exactly what he promised. He brought his talents to South Beach and brought the team to the Finals in his very first year there. But once those Finals began, it was clear his head wasn’t entirely in the game.

There was a collective sigh of relief across the basketball world as the Mavericks overcame the Heat in six games. Throughout the series, LeBron continued to address the bad press, saying he spent his nights after the games reading everything being written about him. He’d lash out in tweets and interviews, defending his performances. This was his biggest mistake yet. By responding to his critics, he only invited further antagonism. He was wasting his energy defending himself off the court while Dallas was busy winning a championship.

This year, LeBron seems to have learned his lesson. His offensive stats haven’t faltered but he’s increased his presence in the backcourt with a renewed energy, using his power to dominate opposing players. While he still has a huge media presence, he’s been piling up the rebounds and holding back on the retorts.  He might have finally figured out what it means to be King.

Heavy may be the head that wears the crown, but if anyone has the strength to hold their head high, it’s LeBron. For the longest time he was the people’s King, ruling with the public support, but, after his move to Miami, he learned just how quickly the masses could turn on you. They called for his head on a pike. They were insatiable but LeBron tried to appease them, get back on their good side. A true King, however, rules despite public opinion, and if he really wants to earn that crown, now is the time to play the greatest basketball we’ve ever seen. With the Knicks done, Chicago ailing, and the Celtics aging, the Heat seem set to return to the Finals. But can he conquer the West?

Hello again.

It's certainly been awhile, hasn't it?

But I'm back now. And I'm hoping to get back to this blog with a renewed energy, posting snippets from long form projects I've been working on as well as writing about anything and everything that I feel compelled to write about: sports, movies, tv, the weather, etc. We'll see what comes of it, but I have a lot of creative projects in the works and I look forward to sharing them with the world.

Stay tuned for more updates soon!

In the meantime, check out my tumblr and follow me on twitter!

http://awareofthebear.tumblr.com/

@AlexFricknSmith

To Victory!

Hello everybody. This summer I was introduced to Victory Brewing Company out of Downingtown, PA and all of their great beers. It's an awesome brewery and you can tell that they truly love what they do over there. They've seen a lot of well deserved success, with a lot of their beers winning awards at various competitions. A couple of weeks ago I found out they were having a video contest and immediately the ideas started flowing. After bouncing around several different concepts, we came up with a game show spoof about that moment in front of the beer fridge when it seems impossible to make a decision. The videos are all up at Victory's website and I'd love it if you head over there to check out all of the great entries. Leave a comment to let them know what you think of our video!

http://victorybeer.com/inspired/2011-video-contest/entry-hoose-your-brew/

When you're done come back here and check out this clip of outtakes from filming. It was a fun day, filming in 103 degree heat. Casey, a great character actor, would not take the leather jacket off until filming was done and almost suffered a heat stroke. Almost.


Choose Your Brew! Outtakes from Alex Smith on Vimeo.

To find out more about Victory check out there site here.

Thanks for your support, and thanks for watching.


This has been an All Smiles Production.

SUPER DELAYED FOLLOWUP:


We won.

I don’t have time for this but…

What time is it, anyway? As I try to wake up I sip on some coffee wondering just what time it is. My coffeepot tells me it’s 7:41, while my microwave believes that it’s 7:56. My cell phone reassures me that it’s 7:44, even though the hands on the clock above my sink seems convinced that it’s 10:26. I briefly entertain the idea that I’m living in some sort of limbo of fifteen minutes, but I know that there’s an explanation.  My cell phone is linked up to a satellite, so that gives it some credibility. The different times on the appliances can probably be attributed to faulty programming or the age of the beaten-up machines. And the clock above the sink, well that’s been broken for some time now.  The point is, however, are one of these times more correct than the others, or does it even really matter?

Time, and the way we relate to it, is a very strange phenomenon. You may think back to a day a couple of years ago and say “Feels like yesterday” even though yesterday feels like an eternity ago.  It happens to me all the time.  On Monday I feel as if Friday will never come, but by Friday I can’t believe how fast the week has gone by. Truth is, time is something we experience, something we perceive, and like most experiences and perceptions, it is different depending on the individual.  You may have a day that seems to drag on forever, minutes seeming like hours, while for someone else in the same room the hours may fly by like minutes. Time, as we know it today, has become another institution of society, a social creation that we have learned to live by.

Many, many moons ago humanity considered time as cyclical. We would mark the progression of time by the cycles and patterns we could observe; the rise and fall of the sun, the waning of the moon, the passing of the seasons. We were in touch with the natural flow of the world, the real rhythm of time, and in this way, we had a relaxed order to the chaos of our lives.  We would work for the necessities of life as we needed them and enjoy the down time together when we were content and satisfied. As our lives became more structured, more regulated, order has only resulted in more chaos. The varying religious and governing organizations began to record events that they thought to be important and, in doing so, established a past, a present, and a future. This marked a shift in our relationship with time from cyclical to linear, no longer flowing but constantly marching forward.  While this understanding of time gave a sense of significance and weight to history, it also created the sense of time as a finite commodity.

As society progressed, our needs have become more complex, ever more complicated, while the time available to us has only seemed to dwindle. With so much more to do, we’ve had to take advantage of every second, literally. The clock evolved from the simplicity of the sundial to the precision of mechanical cog-driven watches.  Eventually, in addition to the hour and minute hands, the second hand was added so that we can keep track of every second ticking into the future.  Technology has brought precision to a whole new level with digital clocks, as now we see nanoseconds fly by.  This has once again changed our relationship with time from a linear perspective to what sociologists John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey refer to as psychological time. Time is not just a finite commodity, but one that we are quickly running out of, and as those nanoseconds continue to fly by we try to use every last one, multitasking in any way possible. We speed through drive thru fast food joints and even Starbucks while chatting on the phone, watch TV while surfing the web, diminishing our attention spans to the point where self expression is confined to 140 letter tweets and keeping in touch is now just checking Facebook for status updates. We rush through our lives as if our time is more important than everyone else’s, with little patience or understanding when there’s a traffic block or someone takes too long at the bank.

I know, because I do this too. On a recent drive to Vermont, I was stuck in traffic while merging onto the NY Thruway. Traffic was backed up all the way into the E-Z Pass lane, the FAST PASS E-Z pass lane. In this situation Dave got to witness a little bit of road rage come out. I couldn’t believe the NERVE of that traffic, slowing me to a standstill in the E-Z pass lane. However, with a deep breath I was able to regain my composure and instead of being frustrated and impatient, I enjoyed the comedic stylings of David Cross and a conversation with a good friend.  I think it’s about time that we all relax and learn to go with the flow. Forget all the nanoseconds you might be wasting and give your full attention to the matter at hand. It’s a cliché, sure, but stop and smell the roses.

This has been an All Smiles Production.

Broviet Russia

In Broviet Russia, revolution starts you. Broviet Russia was the first sketch we filmed for The Debonaires and, in some ways, was sort of the driving force of the whole show. Once we started writing it the ideas kept pouring out and Broviet Russia seemed destined for a spin off. However, as the show progressed we had such a wealth of material we wanted to make and the ambitious plans for Broviet Russia had to take a back seat. For now, all we can do is spread the word and shake our groove things at the Communist Party! Originally, the first episode of Broviet Russia was split in three parts but now, for the first time, you can watch the whole story in one fell swoop.



You can now watch any sketch from The Debonaires at your leisure at vimeo.com/thedebonaires, and full episodes can still be found at the Debonaires' blog.

This has been an All Smiles Production.

From the Curb of Your Suburb

For those that don't know, my name is A Smiles. In the summer of 2008, after listening to mainstream hip hop on the radio, I decided that popular hip hop seemed to lack some of the same vibe and energy that made the genre so enjoyable for me. While there was definitely the influence of party rap, there was nothing like the stylings of Jurassic 5 or A Tribe Called Quest that made me fall in love with the music. Always looking for new outlets of creative expression, I decided to get in the game. So I donned the name A Smiles and collaborated with my friend, C Money. With the help of a talented young producer, C Bones, we began to churn out hit after chart topping hit. That chart might have been most played in my iTunes, but that's alright. I'm just glad we're topping charts. First recording the dance sensation "Swivel and Snap" C Money and I have continued to make progress on our debut LP "From the Curb of Your Suburb" over the years. The album is slated to drop at, uh, some time in the future. Here's a quick preview of a track titled "Fuck Banks, Get to the Deli":

04 Fuck Banks, Get to the Deli

As the album continues to come together with some fun-loving jams keep your ears to the ground for songs to pop up as they are finished. To build the hype a little more, here's a random verse that might find its way into the mix:

I can sense your affliction
You've got that East Coast addiction
But if you come to me for your fix
You best be ready to get your kicks
cuz I'm the East Coast overdose
I'll leave you comatose,
seismic flows, rocking the Atlantic coast,
triple double just like Derek Rose,
leave you on the floor, burnt as toast
cuz I'm a killa, always chasing that skrilla
rock steady, sturdy as a pillar
Holding up the pantheon
Even when the gods are gone
Ancient as the legends go,
but Fresh as the story unfolds
So if you think you can rock like this,
Then go ahead, embrace the sickness
You got that East Coast addiction
Carry it with conviction


Thanks for listening. This has been an All Smiles Production.

UVMtv Presents: An Interview With Jon Kilik

Thanks to my work with UVMtv and being a Film and Television Studies minor at the University of Vermont, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview Jon Kilik. It was a really incredible experience for me, being able to sit down and learn something from an Academy Award nominated producer that graduated from UVM with the class of '78.  Soon to be an alumni myself, it was inspiring to talk with someone who pursued their love of film and became one of the most sought after independent producers in the industry. After graduating from UVM, Kilik moved to New York where he worked on movie sets and eventually met up with Spike Lee to produce Do the Right Thing. From there he built a career producing very powerful films, working on most of the other Spike Lee joints as well as Robert DeNiro's A Bronx Tale, Dead Man Walking, and the aforementioned Academy recognized Babel and Biutiful. I could go on but instead of me telling you all about him, why don't I let him speak for himself:

This has been an All Smiles Production.