Why High School eSports are the Future of "Athletics" Part 1

When I was in high school there were only a handful of extracurricular options available to students after school. You'd have your typical chess club, participating in the high school musical, and of course...sports. Football, basketball, soccer, you know the typical list. It's not that I don't enjoy competition, but I have an adversity to getting really sweaty, being out out of breath, having BO scented clothes, and the occasional injuries or muscle pain that comes with contact sports.

You might be thinking, "But exercise is so good for you!" You'll get no argument from me there. I'd just rather get my workout in a dance class, taking a run, or hitting up a yoga class.

Then there are those that really don't have an affinity for sports at all. At least...traditional sports. But there is a new kid on the block in the competitive sports realm. This kid is bringing millions of dollars to players, huge scholarships, and all the big production value of March Madness!

And players never have to leave their chair...

The Rise of eSports

eSports is quickly reaching an audience previously dismissed as a sub-culture. A group that hides in the shadows, that gets no fanfare or press. What is that group? Video gamers.

Yes, video games. You know those things you think:

• steal away productivity time
• keeps you from exercising
• prevents you from ever having a healthy social life

Or do they?

Contrary to popular belief, gamers have a huge social circle. That circle can extend to worldwide proportions. Not only that but eSports events can be as much as a huge communal event to gather fans together as the Super Bowl or the World Series.

At last year's League of Legends World Championships held in Seoul, Korea gathered over 40,000 fans to watch the finals in Sangam Stadium with over 11 million simultaneous viewers worldwide. For a sport that has only really been brought to the spotlight with global tournaments over the last 10 years, those numbers are staggering!

The big question on many minds is whether eSports has legs or is it just a fad that will burn out in a few years. In Part 2 of this blog series, I will explore the attraction of eSports and why it serves a certain market segment in a way that will insure long term growth.

Have you watched a global eSports tournament online or on ESPN? What was your opinion of the event? Let us know in the comments below!

Tips for Auditioning For A Show ~ Part I

So life as a teacher brings me to the next big event for my students...well, for my drama students that is. Auditions are coming!

I remember when I was a junior in high school and I was coerced by my friends in chorus to audition for the school musical production, "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown!" My first reaction was "What? No, I can't sing or dance." They didn't accept my excuse and "forced" me to audition. And yes, I got the part of Snoopy...and it changed my life. Since then I've acted, danced, sung, choreographed or directed over 40 shows in my life.

Being in a show is like no other experience, and I'll talk about that experience in another post, but for this one I want to focus on auditions, because you can't get IN and show without AUDITIONING for the show. Auditioning can be a mind trip, hitting on every shade of insecurity and doubt you have. But it is also the best feeling in the world to see your name on that cast list. Many times it isn't the level of your talent that can get you cast, it's the subtle things.

Here are my top things to keep in mind when preparing for an audition:

New School Year, New Geekiness!

It's my second year teaching high school in a small Colorado town. That means more opportunities to bring some fun! Whether you are a drama geek, dance geek, or gaming geek, we've got something new for you!

The first thing is bringing improv comedy to the students. I've now taken over teaching the drama program and my hope is to grow it to this hub for school and community entertainment. The first step of that is producing Comedy Sportz nights, which are basically improv shows wrapped in the guise of a competition. These evenings are totally funny to attend and watch! We are getting ready for our first performance now and I'm looking forward to hearing the reviews!

Secondly, I have integrated a full...

The Best Moment from Super Bowl XLVIII

Touchdown! Radio Shack!

The best moment from this year's Super Bowl didn't happen on the field, that's for SURE! Even though I now live in CO, I maintain my Los Angeles football team agnosticism by not hooking my wagon to any one team. The perfect example of why was tonight's game. (Sorry my CO friends. I wanted to become a fan tonight but....)

One thing that I am a fan of when it comes to Super Bowl is...the commercials! It's been hit and miss the past few years, and honestly I'm glad not to see godaddy.com make an appearance this year.

The company that DID show up was RADIO SHACK! Who would have thought? The store that never seems to die despite bigger options like Best Buy, comes back in a big way with this tribute to my favorite decade, the 80s!

Check it out the full 1min version after the jump...

Technology Then & Now: 1991 Radio Shack Ad vs Your iPhone

Radio Shack is still around. But what they sell is very different than back in '91. Thanks to a recent blog post over at TrendingBuffalo.com, you can really see how far we've come in tech. Almost all these items you'd have to buy separately back then, are now all found right on the smart phone in your pocket! Not only that but your your phone version does it way better and cheaper than the 1991 solution.

Take for example the VHS Camcorder. Radio Shack was selling that for $800 in 1991. $800!!!! The resolution was standard def AND you had to buy video cassettes to record on that cost $8-15 a pop. Keep in mind whatever you recorded on those cassettes pretty much stayed there. Unlike the memory cards of today where you just download the clips to your computer them use the card again. I know,  I know. You could record over a VHS tape again, but each time you did, the video quality suffered.

If you added all the items up in this ad that your iPhone can do, you would have spent a little over $3000 back then. All the sudden that pricey $400 iPhone 5S seems like a REALLY good deal! Also keep in mind the Tandy 1000 computer pictured in the ad below for $1600  is only a 286-based processor with only a 20MB hard drive. (Yes, that's MEGABYTE, not GIGABYTE, kids.)

Check out the ad after the break and give your iPhone a hug.

"Behind the gifs": The Backstories Exposed!

Animated gifs. Hours of laughs, seconds at a time. But what happened right before those funny moments capured in their 256-color animated form? Well thanks to a reddit thread, the behind-the-scenes stories are finally exposed! Below are three examples of what you can find there.   Disclaimer: some of the Reddit posts fall on the inappropriate side.

I have assigned  my students the task of exposing the backstory of their favorite gifs using the Pixton comic creation software. My hope is that their final products will look even better than many on the reddit thread. I'll be posting some of my favorites they come up with in an upcoming ShimaTech post.

In the meantime, enjoy these samples after the break... 

Lord of the Rings: "Honest" Videos… [Spoilers]

  It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films directed by Peter Jackson. What's not to love? Epic storytelling (adapted from Tolkien's books), great characters, excellent acting, huge battles, jaw-dropping special effects. Most would agree, but…it's just so loooooong. Not that I'm complaining. Who can get mad at 9 hours of awesome? And it's still shorter than a season of Doctor Who!

The LOTR films recently were bought to my attention again while grading one of my students' blog posts.  This student would probably say she's hardly a geek, but that she still enjoys these films demonstrates that the LOTR films have a huge drawing power. But does it really? I'm curious, about how many females actually enjoy watching these films? There isn't a lot of comedy. The romantic subplot is pretty…well…sub. Okay yes, I'm stereotyping female film tastes, I know! But c'mon... What was the last film series that brought females out in droves? Oh yes…Twilight. And now, the Hunger Games. Well, I guess if you could sit through THOSE films, you can sit through anything…  But I digress.