The emergence of Jeremy Lin is just another classic case of the underdog surpassing the expectations of everyone that watched him and the NBA from afar. What many fail to realize, is those close to Jeremy, himself included always felt the expectations were not high enough for the Harvard grad. 

Talented Asians blazing trails through Ivy League schools is by no means uncommon. Doing so in basketball and then actually getting better at the next level is far from normal.

The National basketball Association has been dominated by African Americans for more than four decades. So much that white ball players, who once populated the league completely are the minority. In steps Lin, who is the first ever American of Chinese descent. To clarify there are other Chinese Americans of Chinese descent. Example, Yao Ming.

The New York Knickerbockers have won eight of their last ten and rank second in the Atlantic division of the Eastern Conference. The Knicks have finished above .500 one time in a decade and have only posted two playoff appearances in that time frame.

Maybe that is the reason for the craze around Jeremy Lin. Or maybe, just maybe it’s because Lin is NOT supposed to be doing this. He is not suppose to succeed in a game where most tower over him, where the average baller rocks more tattoos then he has pre-2012 autographs distributed. A game that casual fans and passer-bys didn’t think it was possible for a Asian kid to set the court on fire.

If there’s anyone not named Lin or residing in the New York area, that also is ecstatic to see J Lin rise to fame; It would be David Stern, who most know, is one smart cookie. His fortunes have changed along with Jeremy’s. Miami Vice gripped the NBA for a bit, and now is losing it’s luster. Lebron James’ skill set is sadly turning Dwayne Wade into a glorified wing man. Kobe Bryant is still Kobe Bryant, but his ability to put a team on his back and lead them to a Title may be a thing of the past. Either way, Kobe is old news and the new news is not very gripping.

It seems that no matter how shallow the average American may actually be, we can almost all set aside our own stereotypes, hypocrisies, preconceived notions, hesitancy to open up and step away from the norm, even if just for a bit, and root for the underdog, especially when they are different from what we are accustomed to.

So why is it, when Americans smell blood, we attack like no other? Lin has an overwhelming amount of turnovers. He has not hit every game winning shot and he will not be the Most Valuable Player this season, and the likeliness is, he never will be. But he is an excellent addition to a team that plays on the biggest stage and has not delivered a worthwhile product to the New York faithful in several years.

The NBA may have more talented, purely athletic players then we have ever seen, but there is not one that carries the star-power potential that Jeremy Lin does. And why? It’s pretty simple. DIVERSITY. Lin offers a crossover appeal that the likes of Tiger Woods once did. Like Tiger, as soon as Lin becomes irrelevant his failures will become very relevant, and that’s when the “Told you so’s” will occupy the media.

We will all wait and see how this story ends, but barring injury and as long as the return of superstars Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire don’t affect his game play, we can anticipate, that there won’t be a drop off in assist and likely an increase. Lin’s point production should diminish a bit and Melo is widely considered one of the best clutch players in the league, so if you’re expecting more game winning shots from the Asian Invasion, that may be few and far between.

Hopefully the public will eventually just let the kid play and not dissect his every move. We have a habit of treating our overnight heroes like the Taliban when they locate Earth. Short of Tim Tebow, no one has gripped the sports nation in recent memory like J Lin has, and if his support group and talent level have anything to say about it, he will be productive for some time, but I wouldn’t expect headline news too much longer.

March is almost here, and if you haven’t given up on your New Year’s resolution to work out – good for you. If you have, it’s not too late to get into shape by spring. I remember starting a program in March of 2008 that had me in GREAT shape by May, so you definitely have time. You have to put in serious work, though. 

5-day workout

First off, you’re going to need to put in 5 days a week. Nothing more, nothing less. If you’re not challenging yourself daily it’s going to take months to achieve the gains you could make up in a matter of a couple of weeks. For this intensity, you’re going to have to blast similar muscle groups on the same days.

Chest & Triceps(M&Th)

Your biggest gains are going to come in the form of banging out your chest and triceps on the same day. I like to hammer out 3 different presses with 4 sets a pieces followed by dumbbell flies or cable crossovers. You exhaust your triceps for substantial gains.

• 4 sets of dumbbell flat bench press
• 4 sets of incline bar press
• 4 sets of decline dumbbell press
• 4 sets of dumbbell flies

Immediately following your flies go directly into dips. If you can’t perform a dip, use a weight-assisted machine until you can. Dips are a great way to build your triceps, shoulders and chest. Follow that with triceps extensions on a raised pulley.

• 4 sets of dips
• 4 sets of pulley extensions
• 4 sets of overhead dumbbell extensions

Back and Biceps(T&F)

Your back is probably the easiest, but trickiest muscle group to define. If I could pinpoint the the one thing that most people screw up when working out their back it’s this: form. Form is important in all aspects of weightlifting, but in terms of your back it is CRUCIAL. For one, the angle for which you work your back out will define what parts of it are built. Exhausting your back with 5 good sets of pulls, rows and raises will also leave you ready to give yourself a really nice workout on your biceps.

• 4 sets of lat pull downs(wide grip)
• 4 sets of lat pull downs(closed grip)
• 4 sets of seated rows(wide grip)
• 4 sets of seated rows(closed grip)

Your biceps. The softballs you want to explode out of your tee shirt for everybody to see. Biceps are easy – if you exercise them right. If you’ve ever seen somebody in the gym swaying their back from front to back in an effort to put up more weight, you know they’re doing it wrong. The key to effective bicep exercises is slow, controlled movements. When you’ve exhausted your last rep, be sure to focus on the negative. 

• 4 sets standing barbell curls
• 4 sets seated preacher curls
• 4 sets seated incline dumb bell curls
• 4 sets pulley curls

Legs and Shoulders(W)

I hate working out my legs, but if you’re ever going to hope for a built upper body you’re going to have to build your legs. Any seasoned weightlifter will tell you that the legs promote upper body strength. I hammer my legs once a week(Wednesday). I’ve never been a fan of squats. I know they work a ton of muscle groups and what not, but I’m just not a fan. You can get a power gut doing squats, anyway. I prefer to do leg presses. Leg presses are just as effective in working your hamstrings, glutes and quads. I guess you could equate lunges to squats, which I like doing. I guess it’s a matter of preference. Either way, be sure to give yourself an explosive leg workout as you’ll only be working them out once a week.

• 4 sets leg press
• 4 sets lunges
• 4 sets seated hamstring extensions
• 4 sets seated quadriceps extensions
• 4 sets seated calf raises
• 4 sets standing calf raises

Shoulders and traps are great. Nothing makes your build stand out like a set of softballs on the ends of your arms. I enjoy the hell out of working out my shoulders and traps. I only hit them once a week because you already hit parts of them during your back and chest workouts, but it’s still a good idea to spend time building on top of those workouts. I start off with the military press, then follow with a series of pulley and dumb bell workouts.

• 4 sets military barbell press
• 4 sets reverse fly cable extensions
• 4 sets dumb bell lateral raises
• 4 sets dumb bell shoulder shrugs
• 4 sets dumb bell bar bell shrugs. 

I was fortunate enough to find guys that had been working out a long time, and I piggybacked off of their knowledge and what they did. If you can find that guy, latch on to him. Most people would prefer to work out with someone else, but conflicting schedules don’t always allow for it. Work your schedule around that guy, and build an awesome summer body. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFlB2WaxS7Q

Ah, the eternal battle of finding a movie that will appeal to men and women alike. They are few and far between to be sure, but occasionally Hollywood gets it right and releases something that can appeal to both sexes. Though most guys can be talked into watching Die Hard any day of the week, few women are going to sit through John McClane fighting European thieves and wisecracking about his estranged wife. On the flip side, can any guy honestly say he enjoys The Notebook?

This past week, This Means War opened in theaters and it is one of the rare films that both men and women will likely enjoy. Though the movie is filled with plenty of action (and one very bad ass car chase), it also features a decent romantic plot as well. Tuck (Tom Hardy) and FDR (Chris Pine) are CIA operatives and best friends who both fall for the same girl, Lauren (Reese Witherspoon). What ensues is the greatest show of one-upmanship ever seen since the men have every toy in the government’s artillery at their disposal.

The bromance between Pine and Hardy is not only believable, but pretty damn funny. Hardy, this century’s Bruce Willis, has become one of the Hollywood’s biggest stars after appearing in Inception and Warrior (last year’s most underrated film). If nothing else, hope that your girlfriend or wife falls in love with Hardy which might convince her to go see The Dark Knight Rises when it comes out in July.

It’s also nice to see Witherspoon back doing a decent comedy and, let’s be honest, she’s not bad to look at. Plus, you’ve got Chelsea Handler really pushing the PG-13 rating as Witherspoon’s sexually frustrated married friend.

So, if you need something to see this weekend and can’t decide on anything, give This Means War a shot. It’s not the greatest movie ever made (not by a long shot), but maybe the minimal action sequences in this movie will prepare her to one day sit down and watch Die Hard from beginning to end.

When you think of Mardi Gras, you immediately think New Orleans. Well, that’s not the only big party in the U.S. when it comes to Mardi Gras. St Louis holds the second biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the country, and thousands gathered in the gateway city fill up just before Ash Wednesday.

St Louis is a party city, no doubt about it, but the celebrations offered here are more than just boozing and dancing – it’s about people from all over coming together and having a good time. This is the history of the St Louis Mardi Gras according to Wikipedia:

St. Louis, Missouri claims to have the second largest U.S. Mardi Gras celebration, after New Orleans. Although founded by French settlers in 1764^[40] the city doesn’t historically have a significant French Catholic population. The St. Louis Mardi Gras was started in the early 1980s by bored, drunk patrons of Hilary’s bar in the Soulard neighborhood^[41] adjacent to downtown, when they decided to march to another neighboring bar.^[41] Over the years, what started as a private party has grown in size and scale, attracted major corporate sponsorship,^[41][42] and is a huge part of the tourism economy of St Louis. The event sometimes attracts hundreds of thousands of revelers, with 200,000–250,000 estimated in attendance in 2011.^[43] The size of the crowd varies considerably from year to year, with the weather being the biggest factor in determining crowd size. On the second Saturday before Mardi Gras, there is a family-oriented “Krewe of Barkus” pet parade with corporate sponsorship by Beggin’ Strips.^[42] Participants consist of anyone who dresses up their pet in costume, and walks their pet along the parade route. The parade is followed by the informal Wiener dog races. Then, on the Saturday before Fat Tuesday, the more adult-oriented, flesh-for-beads parade occurs, although there have been various attempts to reserve a family section at one end of the route. People from all over storm the streets with beers and bead necklaces after the Saturday parade. The streets of Soulard, Geyer, Allen, Russell, Ann, Shenandoah, and others are crowded with people from 7th to 12th Street. The Fat Tuesday parade occurs in the evening. In recent years it has been moved from just north of Soulard to downtown St. Louis. The majority of the overall Mardi Gras festivities have corporate sponsorship, primarily fromAnheuser-Busch and Southern Comfort.^[42] In 2006, this led to an investigation by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control into the legality of Mardi Gras Inc.’s sponsorship deals.^[42}

 

I’m not sure what got into this guy’s Cheerios, but he seems to be bitter about our celebration for some reason or another. While it’s true St Louis doesn’t have a huge French population, you can’t deny the fact that it was settled by the fucking French. Besides, when was the last time the pope visited New Orleans?

Surprisingly, there weren’t a whole lot of arrests this year, either(49 total. Most for underage drinking). I think I saw maybe one or two fights(both were broken up quickly). It’s also no longer a “show your tits for beads” type of party. Another thing that really surprised me was the cell phone service. It was horrible! You would think with over 250,000 people attending that the big 3 providers would have put steps in place to account for this, but not so much. It was next to impossible to get a hold of anybody. I mean everybody likes tits, but it’s nice when you can bring your family to enjoy the parade, too. Soulard is an awesome neighborhood, even when Mardi Gras isn’t happening.

I started modeling after turning 40. It didn’t happen as one would envision in their dreams: sending a holiday picture to an agency and walking the Paris catwalks a month later. Realistically, it took awhile.

I had been taking aerobic classes for some time, trying to get in better shape after having my two lovely children, when I heard someone talking about a woman who, proud of her workout results,  did a photo-shoot for herself.

It interested me, and I wanted to try that for myself, so after a few months (and many, many workouts) I booked myself a photo session with a photographer. Well, the result was amazing, and I was so proud that I sent the pictures all around—even to casting calls and model agencies. I thought, why not? Some responded positively, but most of them did not; my pictures were glitter and glamour and that was not exactly how agencies want to see you.

I decided to learn about the industry and learned a lot on the Internet. I created profiles on forums, and contacted people in the photography/modeling world. In the next few years I did a lot of TFP and free work for photographers, while always focusing on creating a good portfolio. I worked hard, drove many miles, and had both good and bad experiences.

But, the doors finally began to open and agencies began hiring me for paid jobs.

So, to all the women over 40, do you want to model? If so, start registering with some modeling forums. Work with photographers and have a great time. Use the pictures for your Facebook and family albums, or try to get some workshops, casting-photo shoots or real jobs from agencies. Enjoy it and, with a little luck, maybe you’ll get more than that out of it.

It is not a shame to be over 40, and it is certainly not a shame to have your photographs out there. Be realistic about your ambition though— just do it when you want too.

As for being realistic, no agency or client wants a 40 year old for a high fashion or lingerie shoot, unless you are really famous or a brand-face model. (Or if it is a specifically “40+” advertisement shoot). Try to learn about the various types of work available. For example, commercial is something completely different from fashion. Doing free work or work for artists is also a completely different world as lifestyle or photo shoots for business brochures.

Go to castings for commercials, join acting-classes and, importantly, don’t take it personally when you’re rejected for a job. Be yourself when it comes to age. A 40+ model is being booked because she’s 40+, so don’t try to look like your daughter. They wanted a lady or mother for the job and that is why they casted you.

Work hard, stay in shape, drink water and, most of all, have fun!

You can see a lot more at www.model-maria.com and www.modelmayem.com

I waited tables for 6 years, and customers can be a real pain in the ass. It’s not a hard job, but taking care of up to 25 people at a time isn’t easy, either. If you get shitty service, your best bet is to complain later, not before your food is being served(come on, people). Anyway, these chicks took it to a whole other level and just went buck wild on their server.