Thursday, March 12

Kaimana 2

"Don't worry, only the finalists don't get poke. We're covered for lunch."


Game 1: Sanban
Sanban was far more warmed up than Pilthy. This, at 11:30, was our first game of the day so we countered their advantage by sleeping late. Some of us got there early enough to get our legs warmed up. Some of us went to the ocean and contemplated the infinitude of waves (water, sun and wind) crashing down upon Waimanalo over forever and infinity over again.

Sanban's sneakyquick IO looks combined with and their hucks of different angles/timings than we were prepared for gave them a bit of advantage mentally early, theough they did not capitalize consistently on our mental mistakes. Our key in this game was to keep the pace up on O AND D and maintain our controlled physicality. That is, we weren't all faster than them, but we play physically, and we weren't slower than them. We also, to a man, outweigh them. Eventually they have some lapses under our consistent pressure. As they slow down a little in the second half, we put the pedal to the metal and rely on Godzilla in a change-up defense. Win, Philthy.

"Come to Kaimana, get international caps."


I'm now 2-0 against Japan with at least one bewildering but friendly bilungual foul-call discussion in each. Sweet. My brother's Big In Japan. Speaking of which, we thought Thoughts was Philthy.

We were misinformed.

Game 2: Ono
We played terribly against Ono. They might say they caused it. I would say they caused about 40% of it, and we caused the balance. That game blew for everyone.

Either way, the Sanban win secured us a quarters spot against a team to be named later. The team to be named later (So called, though I imagine they picked the name a while ago): The Southern Dandys. Headed by Kid and reaching back into ultimate today and yesterday for players.

To be clear, it is unclear what happened that night aside from Philthy Survivor Flipcup. This was good or bad. I recall recalling, however, that Lonestar carried on the tradition of "underachieving team sitting around all day suckering unsuspecting folks into playing ace-to-the-face." Which everyone on Philthy would like to thank them for. It is a dirty game, but someone has to play it.

Game 1, Quarters v Southern Dandys.
Tim 'lost' the flip to The Count for shirt color with the Count looking very pleased with himself. Also, Luke can say now he D'ed me. I threw a blade right to him in their 1-3-X look ~3 points into the game. Well, at least we didn't waste energy on defense that point.

I was reminded early in this one how much of an advantage these monkey arms are. You can teach speed, but you can't teach length. (That's what she said.) Arms also don't get shorter over the course of the tournament, no matter how well you revel. One nice rip off in this one, but it came back on a travel on the guy who threw it to me. They called a lot of travels. I suspect were traveling a lot.

"2-0 vs jerks who made us go non-pinstripes."


Game 2, Semis v Voltron.
They don't, apparently, appreciate references to their team namesake as much as we'd hoped. Or perhaps we wielded encyclopaedic cartoon knowledge while they had the goddamn Sword of Voltron.

They also didn't let us score as much as we'd hoped. Nor did we, ourselves, let ourselves score as much as I'd hoped. Really, the funny thing about ultimate is that you're just playing catch/monkey-in-the-middle with the general intention of moving down the field. If you can't play catch, you can't win. We didn't, and we didn't.

"I'll form the Head."


Well, they didn't in Finals. Ono slapped Voltron around like a delicious fish-slapping dance do. While Toonsky watched (A joker, on the sidelines...), the crowd ate poke and paradise... paradised.

Some goodbyes sadly said, and another Kaimana in the books. Until next year, when you'll find us at the Kona Brewing Co. to start it off on Friday.
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(Kaimana Preface)
(Kaimana 1)

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Kaimana 1



pic from Kaveh Kardan
(Back: Trey, Raja, A.Peters, Eug, TP)
(Front: Rob, dusty, Tim, Jamie, Butter, Furf, Jimmy)

Semis? That's not too shabby. We played some terrible games and lost, some medium games and won some, some good/great games and won.

10/12ths of our team smiled in the picture (see above).

2/12ths of our team+1 were in a fender bender due to "kids in a bike in a field across the road who later pointed and laughed at our dented bumper... And rightfully so." The American Dream was rumored, at the time, to've had a beverage here man. But not the driver. Who wasn't driving.

3/12ths+3 of our team spent the pre-KK22 week in Kaua'i. BeautifulGreen. I still prefer the Big Island's massive views, but this place was right in its own right. The glass sand beach is strange enough to have been compared to a marketing gimmick of the highest order (as a compliment) by Poppa Bear while not wearing his hair in JayBay-coined "L.A. Douche Bag style."

Kaua'i: Notes
Waimea Canyon: Virtual Infinitude of roosters.
Kalaheo Coffee Co. & Cafe: Breakfast.
Kalalau Trail (Na Pali Coast): Difficult at night.
Hanakapi'ai Falls: Worth the hike.
Koke'e Park: Hike-n-sleep w/ Full Moon.
Hanalei Bay: Nice, quiet little beach community replete w/ real reactionaries.
Ninini Point: Sweeeeet.
Po'ipu: Sunsets.
Princeville: Unreasonably inflated gas prices.
Any Fresh Fish Market: Buy poke. Drink White Wine. Repeat.

9/12ths+8 of our team went to a beachhouse on the North Shore post-KK22. Edward PairedPseudoSub-40hands, Caserace pilots, "Shu, shu-shu, shu-shu-shu-shu [BUTTER!]," beaches, cliff-jumping, sunrises, beers, hangover cures, kegs-n-eggs, drinking asshole, shooting the moon many times (and still-owed drinks), making ice-blended drinks out of whatever, too many hamburgs/hoddogs not enough poke/seafood, and so forth. Good times with folks from Philly I don't see often enough.

?/12ths +? of our team then went to Maui. Some Philthy/Phine/S.Dandys rumored to convene upon and/or win local hat tournament. Fun times, but I didn't make it this year. The expense-approval dept. doesn't appreciate the new $15 per bag convenience fees charged to the working press's line of credit to pad ledgers at failing airlines everywhere.

Anyway, snap back to reality.
We write about ultimate, right?

Game 1: the Stanford.
The college team. They had some runners and a couple clearly more experienced players. I'm assuming that this is not their full college team because we beat them pretty easily in the end. They could have beaten us-- we played very averagely in this game-- but they didn't. There were good individual plays on both sides. Good teamwork on the whole on the part of the Stanford.

Game 2: Skeletor.
Joined by one-time Philthy codefendant Toonsky, Skeletor remained skeletal. Toonsky, after passing on his chance to hitch his wagon to a PHILTHYstar, faded into obscurity by later joining a third team (Voltron) which didn't also win the tournament. This was after Skeletor and the Stanford later became one team after The Pulse got stung by a scorpion. Or sprained his ankle. What I'm trying to say is that the guy was a lopsided Hopalong Cassidy when we played the Stanford.
As Skeletor can confirm, Philthy did not play well in this game. Whether this lack of goodness was due to them or us is up for debate: I would say mostly us, they might say them. We lost by one.
"Kevin Der says hi."
"Nice! He should be here to tell me his own damn self."

Game 3: Bag-O-Wine
Game played during a box of rain (and wind). They ran some zones that we busted by mixing deep strikes and quick movement. Their man D, though very tight/aggressive, had consistent weaknesses. Their offense started out not turning it. Then their offense started and continued to turn it. And we kept scoring... eventually. We started to nail down the correct pace as a team (downfield and behind the disc) during this one. Timing works both ways in ultimate-- from handler to cutter and from cutter to handler.

(...much of the difference between positions is due to the importance of a player's throws on the run v. a player's throws on an established pivot...
...a better handler than a cutter, for example, reads the field before catching the disc and moves the disc before...
...primary cutters get in-cuts and then turn upfield to assess predetermined flight paths...
...[3rd?]...)


Game 4: Aloha Spirit Team.
The opposition included some more familiar faces. We got this win too, though there were some ridiculous(ly exciting?) deep throws on both sides.

Sweet. 3-1 is rarely a bad day.

Simultaneous to our Aloha Spirit game, as I learned later, the Stanford beat Skeletor (Which gave the Stanford sufficient confidence to bail on the power pool and combine with Skeletor to form "Some super loser team"* as Philthy Santa Cruz alums informed me) which made us #1 in the pool and the Stanford #2. On Day 2, after another first round bye, we would crossover with Ono and Sanban, the Japanese team.**

The night included much cross-cultural exchange.

That night, the Stanford was unable to sing American Pie. Unacceptable this tight to the anniversary of the day the music died. Will should cut each and every one of you.
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* - Unlike Voltron, which combined to form some super loser team without the blazing sword of their namesake. Else they would have dispatched Team UPS in the finals circa 1/3rd of the way after the third commercial break.

**- Which, now that I think about it, might mean that we played one more game than everyone else in our power pool, and that everyone in our power pool made the semis which all sounds perfect to me.
----
(Kaimana Preface)
(Kaimana 2)

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Friday, March 6

Kaimana Preface

This year's Kaimana (#22, in standard linear time) left me with a tripartite memento numquam mori.

Once I've had the editorial board... editorially board it, we'll get it out there on the internet in a serial format. (Yes. You'll need to buy "a cereal for Matt", which will contain, as a prize, the story broken into three parts which, when read [though not when blue] in [any] order produce a particular journey for the reader.) Possibly with some pics here and there, once we get the photography department up and running. Er, sifting. (Er, photography departmenting.) If they were running, it would be difficult for them to attend to the task at hand. Which is the one for which they were conscripted. Er, hired. Up and running? What with the sweating and all? What with the...

Babbling and all.

I'll non-segue to this list of Artist – Album(s)/"Tune(s)"+(“Tune(s) of particular import”) which comprise the 2009 PhilthyKaua'i aural experience. Done with ado:

Aesop Rock – "The Harbor is Yours"
Allman Bros – from At Fillmore East, Brothers and Sisters, Eat a Peach and Idlewild South
Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold ("Like the Rest of Us" and "Wild Wild Horses")
Blackalicious – "40oz for Breakfast" and "First in Flight"
Bob Marley – Live!
Boukman Eksperyans – Kalfou Danjere
Brian Eno & David Byrne – Everything that Happens Happens Today
Brian Wilson – from That Lucky Old Sun
Cage – "Shoot Frank"
Calexico – "Victor Jara's Hands"
Cee-Lo Green – from Cee-Lo Green... is the Soul Machine ("Die Trying")
Common Market – from Tobacco Road ("Nina Sing (feat Funklove)", "Gol'Dust" and "Certitude (feat Chev)")
Curtis Mayfield – from Roots and Superfly
Cut Copy – from In Ghost Colours ("Hearts on Fire")
Damian Marley – from Welcome to Jamrock
DANGERDOOM – from The Mouse and the Mask
Deltron 3030 – from Deltron 3030 ("Positive Contact")
Depeche Mode –"Only When I Lose Myself (Gus Gus Short Play Mix)"
Desmond Dekker – "Shanty Town"
Dire Straits – "Desperado"
Dizzy Gillespie – Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods
DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo – "Sun is Shining"
DJ Shadow – "Intro" from High Noon single
Elmore James – from King of the Slide Guitar ("Done Somebody Wrong" & "One Way Out")
Erykah Badu – from Mama's Gun
Fleet Foxes – from Fleet Foxes and Sun Giant EP ("Mykanos" "Sun Giant")
Gang Gang Dance – "Blue Nile"
Grateful Dead – "Saturday Night" (Steppin' Out w/ the G.D.)
Grip Grand – from Brokelore
Heiruspecs – from A Tiger Dancing
Hercules and Love Affair – from Hercules and Love Affair ("True/false, fake/real")
Hi-Tek – from Hi-Teknology ("The Sun God feat Common & Vinia Mojica")
Iron and Wine – from The Shepherd's Dog
James Blunt – "1973" and "I'll Take Everything"
James Brown – from Soul Pride 1960-1969 and Star Time ("Grits" and "Tighten Up")
Jay-Z – "I Know"
Jaydiohead – "Dirt off Your Android"
Jean Grae – "Love Thirst"
Jerry Jeff Walker – "Gypsy Songman"
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – from Electric Ladyland
Jim O'Rourke – "Ghost Ship in a Storm"
Jimmy Cliff – from The Harder They Come
John Lee Hooker – from Live at the Café au Go-Go (and Soledad Prison)
John Legend – "Alright"
John Lennon – from Anthology (Disc 2: New York City)
Johnny Nash – "I Can See Clearly Now"
K-Os – from Atlantis - Hymns for Disco
Kings of Leon – from Because of the Times and Only by the Night
Krayzie Bone – "Rolling Up Some Mo'"
Lauryn Hill – from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Madvillain – from Madvillainy
Marcelo D2 – from A Procura da Batida Perfeita and Meu Samba é Assim
Max Tundra – "Number Our Days"
Michael Jackson – "Billie Jean"
Mos Def – "Umi Says (Zero 7 Mix)"
Murs – Murs for President ("Everything" "The Science" and "Road is My Religion")
Neil Young – "Walk On"
The Neville Bros – from Live at Tipitina's (disc 1)
Okkervil River – from The Stage Names ("John Allyn Smith Sails")
Phish – from Rift and The Story of the Ghost
Prefuze 73 – from Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives
The Raconteurs – from Consolers of the Lonely
RJD2 – from Loose Ends and Since We Last Spoke
Rolling Stones – from Exile on Main Street
Royksopp – from Melody AM+remixes
Santogold – from Santogold and Top Ranking
Seu Jorge – from The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions
Slickers – "Johnny Too Bad"
Soulive – "Bridge to Bama (Hi-Tek mix feat. Talib Kweli)"
Souls of Mischief – "'93 'Til Infinity"
Squarepusher – "My Sound"
Steely Dan– from Citizen
Tahiti 80 – "Heartbeat"
Talking Heads – "(Nothing but) Flowers" and "Burning Down the House"
The Tallest Man on Earth – from Shallow Grave
Tinariwen – from Aman Iman: Water is Life
Tito & Tarantula – "Back to the House that Love Built"
Tom Petty – from Wildflowers
Traffic – "Light Up or Leave Me Alone"
TV on the Radio – "Golden Age"
Vampire Weekend – "Walcott"
The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit) – from 'The Very Best' Mixtape
Victor Wooten – from What Did He Say?
The White Stripes – from Icky Thump
The Who – from Quadrophenia
Tom Waits – "Big in Japan"
Zero 7 – from Destiny CD1

(Kaimana 1)
(Kaimana 2)

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