- Ajami was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Israel). It is the story of two brothers in Tel Aviv. The film is divided into five stories. The stories all connect at different points. That was interesting, but the theme of the stories was desperately depressing that I cannot recommend this film unless you are deeply curious about life in Israel. (11/2010)
- Avatar was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. It's a great show. It lives up to its hype. The animation is extraordinary, but the story is not original. I've seen it at least three times, and I thought the science fiction was a bit weak. The avatars and the ponytails were cool, but I thought the end was bit anticlimactic. (01/10/2010)
- The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock was nominated for Best Actress and Best Picture. It's the true story of a woman who adopts a homeless boy who becomes a big shot in the NFL. I love stories like this. The woman was a real hero who made a real difference. I hope I have that kind of bravery. Sandra Bullock is a very popular actress, but this is her first nomination. I love seeing popular celebrities achieve critical and professional acclaim. (c. 11/20/2010)
- Bright Star was nominated for Best Costumes. It has great costumes, and a character to point out their greatness. The pace of the story is uneven, but if you like John Keats, you should not miss this film. It's about his love affair with Fanny Braun. If you don't know Keats, you might appreciate knowing that he died young and unappreciated. I love period films. They're like time machines. Still, I remained perplexed by the lives and lifestyle of 19th century English gentry. (02/06/2010)
- Burma VJ was nominated for Best Documentary. (It lost to The Cove.) It is about the video journalists who documented the popular uprising against the ruling military regime in Burma in September 2007. They did all of their work with hand held cameras and smuggled their images out of the country at great personal risk. Although the uprising was ultimately unsuccessful, and many of the video journalists were imprisoned, their work has inspired more Burmese to document what is happening in their country. (06/11/2010)
- China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province was nominated for Best Documentary Short.
- Coco Before Chanel was nominated for Best Costumes. It's about the most famous designer of all time. At nine, her father left her in an orphanage. At 18, she worked as a seamstress and a singer. She follows a man to Paris where she meets another man who helps her open a hat shop. Her clothes are stunningly revolutionary. She wears a lot of black and no corsets. It is a beautiful film. I highly recommend it. (03/05/2010)
- Coraline was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It's a stop-motion animated film made right here in Oregon. It looks a little like The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's also set in Oregon which is super-fun for me. Coraline is tricked and abducted by some kind of witch, and she must use her wits to escape. It's really creepy, but my kids love it, too. It actually provided an opportunity for some good discussions - highly recommended. (c. 07/21/2009)
- The Cove was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Free Willy and the subsequent mission to actually free Keiko, the whale who performed in that film, made me aware of the evil that is Sea World. This film is about that industry (captive sea mammals as entertainment). It is also about the systematic slaughter of dolphin as vermin which makes no kind of sense whatsoever. The horror is truly heart breaking. It's time to save the whales - again. (02/20/2010)
- Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal was nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Song. It's fictional biography of a country singer. Predictably, he neglects his family and abuses drugs. I thought it honestly portrayed his drunkenness as worse some times than other. His rock bottom was interesting: he lost his girlfriend's four-year-old boy. He leaves the area and can't give security much information. They find him anyway. All's well that ends well, but he finally checks into rehab. (03/01/2010)
- District 9 was nominated for Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Visual Effects and Best Screenplay. I really loved it right up until the South African betrayed the alien, then I disconnected, and I didn't care what happened for awhile. I found the scenes where they are experimenting on the South African to absolutely disturbing. They will stick with me for a long time. (12/31/2009)
- Il Divo was nominated for Best Makeup. I don't recommend this film unless you are familiar with the subject: a seven-term president of Italy with connections to the mob. The film seemed to serve as (beautiful) illustrations for a story which its target audience already knows. I am clearly not a member of its target audience. I was pretty bored. (02/07/2010)
- The Door was nominated for Best Live Short. It is an Irish film but everyone speaks Russian. The film opens with a man sneaking around, breaking in, and stealing a door. Later we learn that it was his own door he was stealing. He had to abandon his house, but he wanted the door for his daughter's funeral. His daughter died of radiation poisoning following the Chernobyl accident. It's a terribly sad story. (02/25/2010)
- An Education starring Carey Mulligan was nominated for Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Picture. Mulligan reminded me of Audrey Hepburn. She was enchanting. The story is about a young student in the 1960s trying to get into Oxford when she falls in love with an older man. She has to choose between her man and her education. I think the film did a very sloppy job of answering that question. What do you think? Why do women need a university education? (03/02/2010)
- El Secreto de Sus Ojos was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Argentina). This is film is two stories told out of sequence: that sounds like the sort of thing that would normally annoy me, but I think they did it very well, and I liked it very much. The first is the story of a murder and the investigation. The second is the story of the investigator and his infatuation with his boss. It's a great film. I particularly liked the character of the grieving widower. He puts forth a convincing argument for a life sentence over the death penalty. (11/30/2010)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It is stop-motion animation (like Coraline), but it never really drew me into the story. The characters are all a bit odd, and I just kept noticing the film-making. The way the animals' fur moved reminded me of the old Rudolf cartoons from the 1970s. (02/07/2010)
- Food, Inc was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. It was very enlightening, better than Super-size Me, much better than King Corn. I was very surprised to learn that the USDA has lost the authority to shut down meat packing plants that fail their quality control tests. I was also surprised to learn how many children die from e. coli poisoning in the ground beef that they eat. It's an important film. I hope the Oscar nomination gets it watched by lots and lots of people. (02/03/2010)
- French Roast was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. I liked it VERY much. The images were interesting and the characters were charming. The filmmaker employed this very clever device where a mirror on the wall behind the main characters allowed us to see what they were looking at without changing the camera angles, but the thing that really made me fall in love with the film was the message was at the end. (02/24/2010)
- Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. It's cute and clever. Granny comes in to tell her granddaughter a bedtime story. She starts telling the story of Sleeping Beauty, but she identifies with the bad fairy. It turns out to be quite a statement about being nice to the elderly. In the end she leaves her granddaughter quite terrified. It's pretty funny. (02/24/2010)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was nominated for Best Cinematography. I was disappointed that the filmmakers didn't tell more of Voldemort's story in this film. I think we needed more dialogue between Dumbledore and Harry following his views of selected memories. I loved the bits about the love triangle. Some people think that was the wrong place to focus, and maybe they are right. The Cinematography nomination is well-served. There are some really great shots in this film. (c. 07/15/2009)
- The Hurt Locker starring Jeremy Renner was nominated for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director. It is the story of a soldier who disarms bombs in Iraq. He is really good at his job, but sometimes he seems very reckless and stupid, and sometimes he seems very brave and noble. The pace of the film is quite uneven, but I really liked the ending. (02/15/2010)
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Costumes. It really is a very beautiful film. I didn't find it at all confusing as other reviewers. Dr. P sets himself up as a sideshow and people may enter his imagination for a small fee. Even though the imaginarium is a wondrous place, his business is failing until his troop rescues Heath Ledger who seems a hero before revealing himself a villain. (05/19/2010)
- In the Loop was nominated for Best Screenplay. I did not like this film. It a political comedy about how government operatives in the United States and Great Britain try to stop the invasion of Iraq. Of course they fail miserably, and they end up miserable, so how is that funny? It did make me feel a little bit better about the so-called office politics where I work. We are complete amateurs compared to the characters in this film. (03/11/2010)
- Inglorious Basterds starring Christopher Walz was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Screenplay. The pace is uneven. It begins as an action film with Jewish American soldiers terrorizing the Nazis in France. Then it becomes a French film about a Jewish woman who accidentally catches the favor of a German war hero. When the stories converge the French story ends tragically and the American story ends triumphantly - typical. (c. 08/21/2009)
- Instead of Abracadabra was nominated for Best Live Short. It is a Swedish film. This film is about a young twenty-something magician, still living with his parents, trying to impress the new girl next door. It's very funny. The lead actor does awkward super geek to perfection. It's almost painful to watch. It is quite reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite (02/25/2010)
- Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. It is the story of South Africa winning the rugby world cup shortly after Mandela was elected president. It is very much like other sports movies, very exciting and very sentimental. It made me cry. The setting of this film is unique. I came away with a better understanding of who Nelson Mandela was - quite extraordinary. Unless you really hate sports movies, I highly recommend this film. (03/04/2010)
- Julie & Julia starring Meryl Streep was nominated for Best Actress. This film is based on two true stories. It is the story of Julia Child's life in France and how she accidentally became a first class chef. The love story between her and her husband is really very charming. The other story is about a girl named Julie living in New York just after the September 2001 attacks (more historical context). She distracts herself by cooking every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook. (c. 12/08/2009)
- Kavi was nominated for Best Live Action Short. It is about a little boy in India who is forced to make bricks all day with his mother and father. His father owes the kiln owner a lot of money, so he has effectively been sold into slavery. It' was hard for me to watch the abuses laid on this sweet boy, but he managed his escape in the end. The closing credits listed the film as part of someone's MFA. (02/25/2010)
- The Lady and the Reaper was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. It is very cute. I don't think that it was the animator's intention to make any kind of a statement about the right to die, but it did leave questions and worries in my head. I don't believe that doctors really try to revive older people over and over again as depicted in this film. (02/24/2010)
- The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner was nominated for Best Documentary Short.
- The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant was nominated for Best Documentary Short. This film was a little hard to find. It was made by HBO films, and I was finally able to buy a copy from Amazon.com. What I found most interesting was that the plant was closed in spite of having one of the highest efficiency ratings in the whole company. It was closed because sales were down of the particular truck they made. I find it incomprehensible that factories are built to make only one thing, and then when we want to build something else, we have to build a whole different factory.
- The Last Station starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren was nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. It is about the last year of the life of Leo Tolstoy. The title refers to the last train station on the Russian border. Tolstoy and his wife were obviously in love with each other, but they had grown to want different things. The countess wanted financial stability and security. Tolstoy wanted to improve the lives of all Russians. It seemed so tragic that I just cried and cried. (03/01/2010)
- Logorama was nominated for Best Animated Short, and it was preceded by an advisory warning of foul language and violence. There were lots of bad words. The most violent thing I think was when a man kicked a child in the head. The animation seemed really unique to me. Everything was a logo: the people, the landscape, the buildings and vehicles. The story was a car chase. The police were played by Michelin tire men and the villain was Ronald McDonald. (02/25/2010)
- The Lovely Bones starring Stanley Tucci was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. It's about a young girl who is gruesomely murdered (off screen). Surprisingly, the message of the film turns out to be how the dead cope with death, which I think is really very interesting. It might have been more interesting if I hadn't been so distracted by the other two stories: how the survivors deal with their loss and how the bad guy gets away with it. (01/31/2010)
- A Matter of Loaf and Death was nominated for Best Animated Short. It is a British film starring Wallace and Grommit. They have a new business now as bakers but there is someone in town that is killing bakers. Of course Wallace meets her right away and Grommitt is unsuccessful in his attempts to convince him that she's no good - a very nice little film with some very witty dialogue. (02/25/2010)
- The Messenger starring Woody Harrelson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. This film is about a wounded soldier assigned to perform notifications to the next of kin following the deaths of soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's quite dull, but I'm really very glad I saw this film because my father told me that he was assigned to this same duty when he finished his tour in Vietnam. He says it was the worst or hardest duty he had ever been asked to perform. I wish we had seen the film together. (06/12/2010)
- Miracle Fish was nominated for Best Live Short. It is about a boy in Australia with a toy fish that predict your future. After a nap in the nurse's station he wakes up to an empty school. The little actor who plays the boy is super cute and a joy to watch. Eventually we learn why the school is empty and the boy shows enormous resilience in his ability to handle the situation. (02/25/2010)
- The Milk of Sorrow was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Peru) The title comes from the belief that mothers under stress transfer their fear to their nursing babies. The main character's mother was raped by Shining Path, and although she is now safely in Lima, she is still afraid of everything. For example, she keeps a potato in her vagina to ward off rapists. Her mother dies in the opening and she spends the rest of the film trying to secure her burial. Along the way she is cruelly cheated by a rich, white woman, but she triumphs in the end. (12/27/2010)
- The Most Dangerous Man in America was nominated for Best Documentary. This is my favorite film, so I'm allowing myself more than 350 words for this review. This film is about Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in an attempt to bring an end to the Vietnam War. I learned a lot; for example, all five presidents lied to the public about American involvement in Vietnam, just because no one wanted to be the guy who lost the war.
A memo from the Defense Department under the Johnson Administration listing the reasons for American persistence: 10% - to permit the people [of South Vietnam] to enjoy a better, freer way of life - 20% - to keep [South Vietnam] (and the adjacent) territory from Chinese hands - 70% - to avoid a humiliating U.S. defeat - ALSO - to emerge from the crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used - NOT - to 'help a friend'. American soldiers are willing to die to preserve another's freedom. They are not willing to die to preserve another's pride.
In the end, the leak of the Pentagon Papers did not contribute to the end of the Vietnam War, but the leak did strengthen our First Amendment right to freedom of the press as the Supreme Court had to make a decision regarding the injunction to stop the New York Times from publishing the Papers. The leak also prompted Nixon to do one more illegal thing that got him caught and impeached - which was a good thing - I think that man hated the Constitution more than anybody since Jackson.
Daniel Ellsberg was arrested for treason, but the government's case was so full of irregularities that the judge declared a mistrial. He was released on his own reconnaissance. He was not acquitted, but the film included clips of him protesting the war in Iraq, and I think that is the happy ending. In spite of the obvious and horrible levels of corruption, they were not limitless. Ellsberg was not imprisoned or tortured or murdered as he might have been in some other country. (09/09/2010) - Music by Prudence was nominated for Best Documentary Short.
- The New Tenants was nominated for Best Live Short. Two guys move into an apartment and before they can unpack, their neighbor knocks on the door and asks for some flour. She tells them that the previous tenant was murdered. Another guy shows to collect his heroin. The neighbor returns claiming her granddaughter is sick. The heroin dealer kills her. The grand daughter shows up and kills the heroin dealer. Then she dies. The film had some very clever dialogue. (02/25/2010)
- Nine starring Penelope Cruz was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Song. It is a story about filmmaker trying to make his ninth film. As he struggles with an idea he fantasizes about the various women he has loved throughout his life. Each fantasy was presented as a stage production. The hero is finally exposed as a villain. We are lead to believe that he finds redemption, but we only see his down fall. (03/04/2010)
- Paris 36 was nominated for Best Song. It is a French film about a group of out-of-work singers and comics who open up a theater as a co-op during World War II. It's an interesting story which includes a love triangle, a murder, and some really great songs. It got to be a bit dull in the middle, but it had a really great ending, which I don't expect from French films. (02/22/2010)
- Precious starring Gabourney Sidibe and Mo'Nique was nominated for six academy awards: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Picture. It is the story of a seventeen-year-old girl who is pregnant for a second time by her father and how she escapes her abusive home. There are lots of heroes in this film including the alt-ed teacher and Precious but I was also impressed by the positive roles that the public school system and the welfare system played in her story. (03/01/2010)
- The Princess and the Frog was nominated for Best Animated Feature and twice for Best Song. It is about a young black woman in New Orleans in the 1930s, she has a dream of opening her own restaurant when she kisses a prince and turns into a frog. I thought the way they portrayed the racism and sexism from that era was totally appropriate for children. I loved this film. It was enchanting. I loved that it was 2-D cell-animation. (12/27/2009)
- Un Prophète was nominated for Best Foreign Film (France). A well crafted film to be sure, but I never connected well with protagonist, a 19-year-old French Arab convict sentenced to six years in prison. The film traces his transformation from an illiterate, tentative, naïve coward into a bold, brutal, cunning crime boss. I would have liked it better if it were only half as long. It's 2hrs 30min. (09/06/2010)
- Rabbit à la Berlin was nominated for Best Documentary Short.
- The Secret of Kells was nominated for Best Animated Feature. This is a really beautiful film. The animation is quite unusual. Everything about the story is quite unusual. It is sort of epic in nature. It begins with a boy and doesn't end until he is an old man. It seems to be set in a monetary and there is significant disagreement over how to deal with an impeding invasion, but there is much magic at work as well. I streamed this film from Netflix, and I recommend you take a look. (11/2010)
- A Serious Man was nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Picture. I hated it. It's by the Coen Brothers, who I usually like, but it managed to offend me on several levels. This film was supposed to be about a man whose life spirals out of control due to forces beyond his control, but I was not convinced that he was trying. He seemed to me to be allowing people to mistreat him without protest. (02/24/2010)
- Sherlock Holmes was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Score. I don't think I've ever seen the great detective portrayed as a brawler before, but I really liked the way he described the injuries that he was about inflict upon his enemies. I liked the usual scenes of how he analyzes minute details. The chemistry experiments were cool, too. I was less interested in the villain. I thought he was kind of boring, but I will show up for the sequel. (01/10/2010)
- A Single Man starring Colin Firth was nominated for Best Actor. It's the story of a man mourning the loss of his partner in 1962. The period elements of the film are wonderful. He has been miserable for 8 months, and he has decided that today he will kill himself. He enjoys every part of his day as he sets his affairs in order. He is especially nice to people, and in the end, a new friend convinces him to live. I wish that were the end, but the very next moment, he dies of a heart attack - lame. (08/08/2010).
- Star Trek was nominated for Best Makeup, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. This movie was really beautiful, and I even liked the actors and the characters, but I did not love the premise. I don't want the franchise re-launched by creating a new continuity. If they wanted to create a whole bunch of new situations, why didn't they just come up with new characters, like they did for The Next Generation? How about a Star Trek series with lawyers, like JAG? (c. 12/28/2009)
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was nominated for Best Sound Mixing. It was also nominated for the Razzie for Worst Picture. I did not love this film. It was fun to see Shea Beowulf and his costar again, but some of the Autobots were really annoying and the story line was mostly lost on me. I particularly detested the scene in which the mom takes her boy to college and accidentally buys some brownies laced with marijuana and then acts like a fool. (c. 12/28/2009)
- Up was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Score, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing and Best Screenplay. This is an absolutely charming film. I love the way they tell two short stories before the end of the opening credits and then tell another short story during the closing credits - very craft fully done. I also loved the way that the house floats like a parade balloon: sometimes they are weighing it down, and sometimes it is carrying them along. (c. 05/29/2009)
- Up in the Air starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick was nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress twice, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay. I thought it was really good, very unusual, and terribly sad. It is the story of a man who flies a lot for work. He likes this lifestyle because it keeps him disconnected from everyone. He comes to realize this is not a great way to live, and he tries to change his life. (01/16/2010)
- Which Way Home was nominated for Best Documentary.
- The White Ribbon was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Film (Austria). I did not like this film. It is set in Germany just before WWI. The children in the film are being abused, and they in turn commit horrible crimes against their neighbors. The message seems to be that violence begets violence, but it ending is so unsatisfactory that I cannot recommend it. (09/12/2010)
- The Young Victoria was nominated for Best Costumes, Best Set Design and Best Makeup. It is a stunningly beautiful film. It is also a very beautiful story. It begins one year before Queen Victoria's coronation when she is 17 years old. She is being manipulated by her mother and step-father. It tells the story of how she gained independence, power and love. It's really too beautiful to be true. I've got to read a biography of Queen Victoria.(03/02/2010)
Monday, December 27, 2010
My Oscar Reviews 2009
I set a goal for myself to watch all the films nominated for an Oscar last year (2009). The year is almost over. The Golden Globe nominations were announced 12/14/2010. The Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced 12/16/2010. The Oscar nominations will be announced 01/25/2011. As of 12/27/10, I have seen 52/58 of the nominated films, that's 90%. I know I can get at least one more of the remaining six (Which Way Home). I might be able to see two others, but it is highly doubtful. Here I've written a brief (100 words or less) review of each film. They are listed in alphabetical order in case you want to find a particular film. The date in parenthesis is the date I saw the film. The most recently written reviews are underlined.
Monday, December 13, 2010
My back injury
I'm not really sure I should refer to my current condition as an injury. There was no incident of injury, but it hurts really badly, and it's different from any previous back pain I've suffered through. Usually when my back hurts it's because I strained it somehow, and the muscles in the lower back are in spasm. A lot of rest usually has me all fixed up, but this has been entirely different. The pain is localized primarily in the back of my hip around my sacroiliac joint, and it occasionally shoots down my leg. I've decided to document my experience here in the event that knowing something of my experience may be of some help to someone else.
Week 1: A sharp pain around my sacroiliac joint had been pestering me on and off for a few weeks. It bothered me mostly when I was running laps at the start of my taekwondo classes. It was only occasionally annoying, so I just ignored it, hoping it would go away. By 10/14/2010, I decided that it wasn't going to go away without help. Assuming that I had pulled a muscle, I asked my taekwondo instructor for a stretch that might help. I took a week off taekwondo.
Week 2: A week of rest didn't help, so I made an appointment to see my primary care physician on 10/19/2010. She prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication, some muscle relaxants and an x-ray.
Week 3: The x-ray came back inconclusive, so my primary care physician ordered an MRI. The anti-inflammatory medication worked great, but the prescribed dosage diminished each day, and the pain came back, so my physician refilled it. I actually competed in a tournament 10/30/2010. I took first in sparring.
Week 4: The MRI was a horrible experience. I had to stay very still in a very uncomfortable position for what seemed like a very long time. I guess it was loud and crowded, too, but I didn't notice. The results came back for a bulging disc, so my physician referred me to a specialist. The specialist turned out to be a surgeon, and he couldn't see me for three weeks, so I went back to my physician. She refilled my prescription for anti-inflammatory mediation and she referred me for some physical therapy.
Week 5: I had my first physical therapy session 11/08/2010. It was pretty intense. The therapist was attempting to determine the nature and extent of my condition, so she ran me through a thorough series of tests which were exhausting and rather painful, but in the end she determined that my bulging disc was not the source of my pain. Instead she determined that the source of my pain was some tension in the nerve running down my leg and some instability in my core causing certain muscles to do jobs they were not really designed for.
Week 6: I had two more physical therapy sessions. In the first (11/15/2010) she tried to bring more mobility to my joints. In the second (1/17/2010) she tried to help me build up some strength in my core. She taped my sacroiliac (SI) joint which helped a lot. It was great.
Week 7: At my physical therapy session, I received an SI belt (11/23/2010) which did very much the same job as the tape. I was also counseled against doing any jumping in my taekwondo classes. I was told that jumping created too much compression on my spine, and I just needed to lay off a bit. I actually decided not to go to any classes this week. I was in too much pain, besides the school was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
I also saw the surgeon this week (11/24/2010). It was mostly a very disappointing experience. He did not seem to consider the possibility that the bulging disc was not the source of my pain. He mentioned physical therapy as a course of treatment only once but not seriously. He really gave me three treatment options: (1) do nothing, it might get better on its own, (2) receive a cortisone shot to deal with the pain while it gets better on its own or (3) let the surgeon trim off the bit of the disc that is bulging. I told him that I wanted to go with the least invasive treatment first, and he agreed that was reasonable. He said he would call me in 30 days to see if I wanted the cortisone shot.
Week 8: I had two more physical therapy sessions this week in which my therapist discovered a lack of mobility in my knee which was effectively making one leg shorter than the other - not good for core stability.
Week 9: I arrived on Monday (12/06/2010) morning a little late and too sore to do very much real work. I was really worried about being able to perform at all during my belt test that evening, but my therapist was able to straighten me out and get me moving smoothly again. I was able to perform very well during my belt test, but I decided that I would take at least two weeks off to focus on my therapy. Later this week I fell which created an upslip in my hip, but my therapist was able to correct this as well.
Week 10: After a full week off taekwondo (and no falls),I arrived for my session much less sore, and we were able to do more work. My therapist discovered that my pain had localized over just one vertebra, my SI joint and my knee. This was a sign of good progress. I also asked if she though I might be able to enter a tournament in February, and she said yes. I'm very excited about that - 54 days away.
Week 1: A sharp pain around my sacroiliac joint had been pestering me on and off for a few weeks. It bothered me mostly when I was running laps at the start of my taekwondo classes. It was only occasionally annoying, so I just ignored it, hoping it would go away. By 10/14/2010, I decided that it wasn't going to go away without help. Assuming that I had pulled a muscle, I asked my taekwondo instructor for a stretch that might help. I took a week off taekwondo.
Week 2: A week of rest didn't help, so I made an appointment to see my primary care physician on 10/19/2010. She prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication, some muscle relaxants and an x-ray.
Week 3: The x-ray came back inconclusive, so my primary care physician ordered an MRI. The anti-inflammatory medication worked great, but the prescribed dosage diminished each day, and the pain came back, so my physician refilled it. I actually competed in a tournament 10/30/2010. I took first in sparring.
Week 4: The MRI was a horrible experience. I had to stay very still in a very uncomfortable position for what seemed like a very long time. I guess it was loud and crowded, too, but I didn't notice. The results came back for a bulging disc, so my physician referred me to a specialist. The specialist turned out to be a surgeon, and he couldn't see me for three weeks, so I went back to my physician. She refilled my prescription for anti-inflammatory mediation and she referred me for some physical therapy.
Week 5: I had my first physical therapy session 11/08/2010. It was pretty intense. The therapist was attempting to determine the nature and extent of my condition, so she ran me through a thorough series of tests which were exhausting and rather painful, but in the end she determined that my bulging disc was not the source of my pain. Instead she determined that the source of my pain was some tension in the nerve running down my leg and some instability in my core causing certain muscles to do jobs they were not really designed for.
Week 6: I had two more physical therapy sessions. In the first (11/15/2010) she tried to bring more mobility to my joints. In the second (1/17/2010) she tried to help me build up some strength in my core. She taped my sacroiliac (SI) joint which helped a lot. It was great.
Week 7: At my physical therapy session, I received an SI belt (11/23/2010) which did very much the same job as the tape. I was also counseled against doing any jumping in my taekwondo classes. I was told that jumping created too much compression on my spine, and I just needed to lay off a bit. I actually decided not to go to any classes this week. I was in too much pain, besides the school was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
I also saw the surgeon this week (11/24/2010). It was mostly a very disappointing experience. He did not seem to consider the possibility that the bulging disc was not the source of my pain. He mentioned physical therapy as a course of treatment only once but not seriously. He really gave me three treatment options: (1) do nothing, it might get better on its own, (2) receive a cortisone shot to deal with the pain while it gets better on its own or (3) let the surgeon trim off the bit of the disc that is bulging. I told him that I wanted to go with the least invasive treatment first, and he agreed that was reasonable. He said he would call me in 30 days to see if I wanted the cortisone shot.
Week 8: I had two more physical therapy sessions this week in which my therapist discovered a lack of mobility in my knee which was effectively making one leg shorter than the other - not good for core stability.
Week 9: I arrived on Monday (12/06/2010) morning a little late and too sore to do very much real work. I was really worried about being able to perform at all during my belt test that evening, but my therapist was able to straighten me out and get me moving smoothly again. I was able to perform very well during my belt test, but I decided that I would take at least two weeks off to focus on my therapy. Later this week I fell which created an upslip in my hip, but my therapist was able to correct this as well.
Week 10: After a full week off taekwondo (and no falls),I arrived for my session much less sore, and we were able to do more work. My therapist discovered that my pain had localized over just one vertebra, my SI joint and my knee. This was a sign of good progress. I also asked if she though I might be able to enter a tournament in February, and she said yes. I'm very excited about that - 54 days away.
Monday, December 6, 2010
My seventh belt test (blue belt)
My eight-year old daughter and I have been studying taekwondo at World Champion Taekwondo in Scappoose, Oregon for 21 months now. Monday night (12/06/2010), we had our seventh belt test. We leveled up from blue stripes (on green belts) to blue belts. We are looking forward to taking our black belt test in April 2012.
The morning of the test, I woke up really very sore. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to test. I've been battling back pain for about eight weeks, and it was really flared up this Monday morning. Thankfully, I had an appointment scheduled with my physical therapist, and she was able to straighten me out a bit. I was still sore, but a few hours seated in front of my computer at work, a little aspirin and a little ibuprofen had me moving smoothly by late afternoon.
Our test was scheduled for 7:00 pm, but the two previous tests had each gone a bit long, so we got off to a late start. Master Byong-Cheol Kim and Master Je-Kyoung Kim were both in attendance to score our tests. We started with some calisthenics to warm us. He asked us to do ten jumping jacks, but my physical therapist told me not to do any jumping, so I just sort of hopped a little. After 20 pushups and some stretching, Master Jason asked us to sit on the floor with our eyes closed. I don't think he's ever asked us to do that before. One of his substitute teachers (Joon) had us do that in class once, but this was a first for a belt test. While we were sitting quietly, he told us that our test would be short but intense. He encouraged us to do our best and above all, to yell loudly (at the appropriate times).My guess is that even though we were starting late, everyone wanted to get home on time, but he wanted to assure us that our test would be worth taking and we would really be earning our belts.
We started with blocks and punches. I think we did eight of each (four to the left and four to the right), but it was intense. Master Jason kept a quick pace, and we moved from one block to the next in rapid succession. We performed: low block, middle block, high block, and palm block down, palm block side, palm strike, elbow strike, c-strike, chop, reverse chop, single punch, double punch, three punches, four punches, five punches, ten punches and 50 punches. At the end we were getting a little horse, but I think some of us got louder as we noticed others were getting quieter. Good team work.
Then we did stances with our hands behind our backs. We took four steps forward and then four steps backward for each stance: walking stance, front stance, side stance (aka horse stance) and back stance.
Then we did kicks: front kick, axe kick, round house kick, face-high round house kick, circle kick, side kick and back kick. I had a little trouble with back kick. I couldn't quite work out how to get from the finish of the kick back into sparring stance for the next kick, but I was getting pretty tired by then. It was time to kick targets. We kicked the hand-held paddles. Eric held for my group. We did combinations: (1) roundhouse kick + round house kick + face-high round house kick, (2) front-leg roundhouse kick + jumping double roundhouse kick, and (3) ten roundhouse kicks. I probably shouldn't have done the jumping double roundhouse kicks, but I didn't want to be the only one, so I did them, and I was fine.
Next we did self-defense and one-step sparring. The green belts went first. Ms. J.T. took Master Jason down really hard, twice! It was awesome! My group (the blue stripes) went next. I got my self-defense a little mixed up. I yelled before I punched him, but he just smiled at me. Finally, Jared, our only red belt performed his self-defense and one-step sparring with Dominic, our youngest black belt. They did great (as always), but then Master Jason had them do 30 seconds of non-contact sparring. That was new. We don't usually do sparring in our belt tests. Then, Jared had to fight Dominic AND Robert. Then, he had to fight Dominic, Robert and Eric, so he was exhausted when it was time to do his form.
Jared did his form first. He did great. He was breathing heavily the whole time, but he did great. Then we (the blue stripes) did our form. I was so nervous. I hadn't practiced that day, so during the 15 seconds that I'm standing there waiting for him to tell us to begin, I was frantically trying to remember the first step, but I didn't forget anything. I was slow (as usual), but I didn't forget anything. Master Jason called out the stances as we went, which was really nice of him because he knew those had been giving us trouble. Finally, the green belts did their form. There are only five of them: four adults and a preteen. They always do their form so sharp. It's neat to watch.
After forms, we lined up with our boards. We read our philosophies and our bad habits. The green belts broke first with hammer fist. Then we broke with chop. I wish we had practiced more. I knew that I was supposed to hit the board with the edge of my palm and not my fingers, but I failed to execute that move properly and I crushed the tip of my smallest finger. It only turned a little purple - not too bad.
My daughter was the only one to earn ten black stripes this time and receive a trophy and a gold star, and she just barely squeaked by, earning two stripes a week for the past three weeks. There were fewer weeks this quarter than most, and my back pain discouraged me from helping her during most of the quarter.
After the test, Master Byong-Cheol Kim approached me to compliment me on how much my kicks have improved. I felt about eight feet tall. We took a group picture, but we didn't have our new belts. That makes for a rather anti-climatic ending, but they should arrive next week.
The morning of the test, I woke up really very sore. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to test. I've been battling back pain for about eight weeks, and it was really flared up this Monday morning. Thankfully, I had an appointment scheduled with my physical therapist, and she was able to straighten me out a bit. I was still sore, but a few hours seated in front of my computer at work, a little aspirin and a little ibuprofen had me moving smoothly by late afternoon.
Our test was scheduled for 7:00 pm, but the two previous tests had each gone a bit long, so we got off to a late start. Master Byong-Cheol Kim and Master Je-Kyoung Kim were both in attendance to score our tests. We started with some calisthenics to warm us. He asked us to do ten jumping jacks, but my physical therapist told me not to do any jumping, so I just sort of hopped a little. After 20 pushups and some stretching, Master Jason asked us to sit on the floor with our eyes closed. I don't think he's ever asked us to do that before. One of his substitute teachers (Joon) had us do that in class once, but this was a first for a belt test. While we were sitting quietly, he told us that our test would be short but intense. He encouraged us to do our best and above all, to yell loudly (at the appropriate times).My guess is that even though we were starting late, everyone wanted to get home on time, but he wanted to assure us that our test would be worth taking and we would really be earning our belts.
We started with blocks and punches. I think we did eight of each (four to the left and four to the right), but it was intense. Master Jason kept a quick pace, and we moved from one block to the next in rapid succession. We performed: low block, middle block, high block, and palm block down, palm block side, palm strike, elbow strike, c-strike, chop, reverse chop, single punch, double punch, three punches, four punches, five punches, ten punches and 50 punches. At the end we were getting a little horse, but I think some of us got louder as we noticed others were getting quieter. Good team work.
Then we did stances with our hands behind our backs. We took four steps forward and then four steps backward for each stance: walking stance, front stance, side stance (aka horse stance) and back stance.
Then we did kicks: front kick, axe kick, round house kick, face-high round house kick, circle kick, side kick and back kick. I had a little trouble with back kick. I couldn't quite work out how to get from the finish of the kick back into sparring stance for the next kick, but I was getting pretty tired by then. It was time to kick targets. We kicked the hand-held paddles. Eric held for my group. We did combinations: (1) roundhouse kick + round house kick + face-high round house kick, (2) front-leg roundhouse kick + jumping double roundhouse kick, and (3) ten roundhouse kicks. I probably shouldn't have done the jumping double roundhouse kicks, but I didn't want to be the only one, so I did them, and I was fine.
Next we did self-defense and one-step sparring. The green belts went first. Ms. J.T. took Master Jason down really hard, twice! It was awesome! My group (the blue stripes) went next. I got my self-defense a little mixed up. I yelled before I punched him, but he just smiled at me. Finally, Jared, our only red belt performed his self-defense and one-step sparring with Dominic, our youngest black belt. They did great (as always), but then Master Jason had them do 30 seconds of non-contact sparring. That was new. We don't usually do sparring in our belt tests. Then, Jared had to fight Dominic AND Robert. Then, he had to fight Dominic, Robert and Eric, so he was exhausted when it was time to do his form.
Jared did his form first. He did great. He was breathing heavily the whole time, but he did great. Then we (the blue stripes) did our form. I was so nervous. I hadn't practiced that day, so during the 15 seconds that I'm standing there waiting for him to tell us to begin, I was frantically trying to remember the first step, but I didn't forget anything. I was slow (as usual), but I didn't forget anything. Master Jason called out the stances as we went, which was really nice of him because he knew those had been giving us trouble. Finally, the green belts did their form. There are only five of them: four adults and a preteen. They always do their form so sharp. It's neat to watch.
After forms, we lined up with our boards. We read our philosophies and our bad habits. The green belts broke first with hammer fist. Then we broke with chop. I wish we had practiced more. I knew that I was supposed to hit the board with the edge of my palm and not my fingers, but I failed to execute that move properly and I crushed the tip of my smallest finger. It only turned a little purple - not too bad.
My daughter was the only one to earn ten black stripes this time and receive a trophy and a gold star, and she just barely squeaked by, earning two stripes a week for the past three weeks. There were fewer weeks this quarter than most, and my back pain discouraged me from helping her during most of the quarter.
After the test, Master Byong-Cheol Kim approached me to compliment me on how much my kicks have improved. I felt about eight feet tall
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Dominic's black belt test
Dominic has been studying taekwondo at World Champion Taekwondo in Scappoose, Oregon for at least a year now. Saturday (11/20/2010), he was finally able to take his black belt test. I was very pleased to be able to attend and cheer him on. I’m looking forward to taking my own black belt test in April 2012. I offer this description of the event to anyone who might be wondering what a black belt test is like.
World Champion Taekwondo was founded by Grandmaster Byong-Cheol Kim, Olympic gold medalist, 1992. There are five campuses: Portland, Lake Oswego, Saltzman, Murray Hills, and Scappoose. The Lake Oswego campus is owned and operated by Master Je-Kyoung Kim, also a gold medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Students from all five schools attended this test. I counted 25 students testing for the 2nd or 3rd degree (dan) black belts certification; 24 students testing for a junior black belt (less than 13 years old); and 37 students testing for their first dan.
I think that kukkiwon regulations: divide black belts (dan) and junior black belts (poom) at age 15, but our school draws the line at age 13. Technically, Dominic is 12.75 years old, but he tested for a "regular" black belt today. Anyway, there were about 87 students testing today.
We began arriving at Reynolds Middle School in Fairview, Oregon at about 9:00 am. The test was conducted in the gymnasium. I was surprised they did not put down the mats. This is the same location that we use for our friendship tournament twice a year, and they put down mats in this room for that, but today the students tested on a hardwood floor. Friends and family were seated in the balcony. They did not set up the bleachers on the floor. This gave them a lot more floor space, but it made it harder for us to get very good pictures. A zoom and a mono pod would have been handy accessories.
The test began at 10:00 am. Master Andrea led the stretching. Master Andrea received her 4th dan certification last May, at the same time our instructor, Master Jason, received his. At 10:15, they broke up into three groups: (1) those testing for 2nd or 3rd dan, (2) those testing for junior black belts, and (3) those testing for 1st dan. There was some small drama about getting Dominic into the right group. Technically, he was about 12.75 years old on the day of the test. His masters had agreed that he should test for 1st dan, but he divided himself up with junior black belts by mistake, but Master Jason remedied the situation quickly.
From this point, it was really three different tests being conducted in the same room, and I mostly observed the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dan candidates. I couldn't really see the junior black belts from where I was sitting. They started with endurance testing. I had always thought of this portion of my belt tests as the warm up, but it was listed as endurance testing on the program, and it's basically calisthenics: jumping jacks, pushup, squats and crunches. I didn't pay close enough attention to note how many of each exercise they were asked to do, but I did notice one poor guy with sprained or broken wrist. He wasn't able to do the pushups, so he just kept doing more crunches. I'll be he wished they were working on mats.
I was impressed that no one appeared to be doing pushups on their knees, but otherwise, I was not impressed with the quality of the pushups, even among the 2nd & 3rd dan candidates. Somewhere I got the idea in my head that a black belt ought to be able to do 100 pushups, and I've been working on that goal myself on and off for almost two years now. Most of the sit-ups I observed were VERY shallow. If I were ever in a position to suggest an improvement to the curriculum at World Champion Taekwondo (and I don't suspect that I ever will be), I would suggest bringing back the yellow stripe, and having it represent milestones in physical fitness such as pushups, crunches and squats.
A ten-minute break followed endurance testing, and then the students drilled through basic techniques: punches blocks and stances. They finished this portion of the test with three sets of 100 punches. The first set was very impressive, the second set less so, the third set was a little pathetic, everyone was so tired that no one was pulling their punches all the way back to their belt any more. This might be another skill for me to practice as I prepare for my black belt test.
The kicking drills were conducted much the same way as the basic techniques: lots of combinations. Dominic commented later that it was a little hard to hear and understand the directions. They finished this set with 100 front kicks.
Another 10-minute break preceded the sparring portion of the test. We had been sitting in the bleachers for nearly two hours, so we were ready for a break ourselves. We went downstairs and walked out onto the floor and chatted with Dominic as he put on his sparring gear. The master instructed all of the students wearing glasses to remove them, and then they were paired up and instructed to demonstrate their skills without hurting each other (light contact). Master Jason commenting that he always negotiated with his partners in belt tests to go ahead and kick each other full force because light contact is boring. It was quite chaotic with 20 pairs of competitors kicking at each other, so they asked half of them to sit down. Dominic out-classed his partners in a big way. He loves sparring. He's small but quick. There was another 10-minute break after sparring for the students to change out of their gear.
At this point it's about 12:30 pm. I'm glad I packed plenty of snacks because there was no lunch break. The next item on the program was forms. I was surprised that they included the basic forms. I had only expected to see the tae guk forms. I was also surprised to see them performed out of order. I will need a lot of practice to be able to do that, and some of the students testing appeared to be in need of bit more practice. To keep things interesting, they had half the students sit down at one point and watch the other students perform, and then they switched. Then, they had half the students perform one form while the other half of the students performed a different form.
At 1:00, it was time for nun chucks. The poom candidates and the 1st dan candidates sat on the floors to watch because only the 2nd & 3rd dan candidates learn the nun chuck routines. It was something like forms, but they were only just numbered. They didn't have names. They just worked through a series of pre-defined movements. It looked cool. Dominic is looking forward to learning nun chucks. He will pretest for his 2nd dan three times in the next two years. I think he has to learn the first four routines for his first pre test.
At 1:00 pm it was time for speeches. The masters previously asked four people to prepare a few words. The first speech was given by a 30-something woman who was testing today for her 1st dan. She described how she and her husband used to work out at different things until they started practicing taekwondo together. He was testing for his 1st dan today, too. Master Jason commented that he knew them when they first started, so I'm guessing they studied at Master Kim's Portland location on West Union Road.
The second speech was given by a mother of one of the poom candidates. She described her son as "bouncing off the walls." It made me smile. That's how I got started in taekwondo: looking for something for my son. The third speech was given by a father who over came spinal injuries in order to practice taekwondo with his son. His son has been ready to test for some time now, but he's been waiting for his dad to test with him. His dad is currently a brown belt, so he's about a year away from his black belt test, but he convinced his son to go ahead and test today. The final speech was given by a black belt candidate who remarked how much he hates to exercise. I could really appreciate this. I really hate running for example. I used to like weight lifting, but he also commented how motivational he found the frequent rank advancements, and I had to agree with that, too. When my next belt test is only three months away, I'm very unlikely to slow down or take a break. Even the black belts pretest every six months.
Finally, it was time for board breaking. It rather a long time to hand out all the boards. Each student had to receive their boards from their master, presumably because the cost of the boards was paid from the e testing fee which is paid to the head master of each school. This is perhaps an indelicate detail, but it's a detail lots of people need to know, so I will share with you that the belt fee for this particular test was $550.00. I'm glad I discovered that because my daughter and I will hopefully test on the same day, and that is not a sum I can come up with all at once, but a year is more than enough time to save it up.
Anyway, each student received eight boards. The poom candidates received thinner boards than the dan candidates. Students held for each other, and they seemed to choose their own breaking techniques. Dominic broke his eight boards with four kicks, two at a time. Master Jason had gone down to the floor at this point to help hold boards, and he had to make some special effort to hold for Dominic as others, trying to help, kept offering to hold for him.
The closing ceremony began with the distribution of new uniforms. These uniforms featured the familiar school logo on the back, but they also included the words World Champion Taekwondo on the pants in large red letters. To be more specific, the word World appears on the outside of the left leg, the word Champion appears across the back of the jacket, below the belt, and the word Taekwondo appears on the outside of the right leg. This led to some confusion in Dominic's family because from the back the students all appear to be labeled as champions. In addition, the 1st dan uniforms feature a single black line on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg; the 2nd dan uniforms feature two black lines on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg; and the 3rd dan uniforms feature three black lines on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg.
When the students arrived in their new uniforms, the masters called them up one at a time to receive their new belts. The belts were all embroidered with the students name and either the name of the school or the name of their master. I can't remember. There was also some Korean embroidery. The 1st dan belts included a single gold bar embroidered at the end of the belt, the 2nd dan belts included two gold bars embroidered at the end of the belt, and the 3rd dan belts included three gold bars embroidered a the end of the belt. I believe the poom belts included the same embroidery, but they were not entirely black. They were divided in half lengthwise and one half was red and the other half was black. I can't remember if the it was the top half or the bottom half that was red, but I do remember that those little kids sure were happy running around in their new uniforms and belts.
The final element of the closing ceremony was a group picture.
World Champion Taekwondo was founded by Grandmaster Byong-Cheol Kim, Olympic gold medalist, 1992. There are five campuses: Portland, Lake Oswego, Saltzman, Murray Hills, and Scappoose. The Lake Oswego campus is owned and operated by Master Je-Kyoung Kim, also a gold medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Students from all five schools attended this test. I counted 25 students testing for the 2nd or 3rd degree (dan) black belts certification; 24 students testing for a junior black belt (less than 13 years old); and 37 students testing for their first dan.
I think that kukkiwon regulations: divide black belts (dan) and junior black belts (poom) at age 15, but our school draws the line at age 13. Technically, Dominic is 12.75 years old, but he tested for a "regular" black belt today. Anyway, there were about 87 students testing today.
We began arriving at Reynolds Middle School in Fairview, Oregon at about 9:00 am. The test was conducted in the gymnasium. I was surprised they did not put down the mats. This is the same location that we use for our friendship tournament twice a year, and they put down mats in this room for that, but today the students tested on a hardwood floor. Friends and family were seated in the balcony. They did not set up the bleachers on the floor. This gave them a lot more floor space, but it made it harder for us to get very good pictures. A zoom and a mono pod would have been handy accessories.
The test began at 10:00 am. Master Andrea led the stretching. Master Andrea received her 4th dan certification last May, at the same time our instructor, Master Jason, received his. At 10:15, they broke up into three groups: (1) those testing for 2nd or 3rd dan, (2) those testing for junior black belts, and (3) those testing for 1st dan. There was some small drama about getting Dominic into the right group. Technically, he was about 12.75 years old on the day of the test. His masters had agreed that he should test for 1st dan, but he divided himself up with junior black belts by mistake, but Master Jason remedied the situation quickly.
From this point, it was really three different tests being conducted in the same room, and I mostly observed the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dan candidates. I couldn't really see the junior black belts from where I was sitting. They started with endurance testing. I had always thought of this portion of my belt tests as the warm up, but it was listed as endurance testing on the program, and it's basically calisthenics: jumping jacks, pushup, squats and crunches. I didn't pay close enough attention to note how many of each exercise they were asked to do, but I did notice one poor guy with sprained or broken wrist. He wasn't able to do the pushups, so he just kept doing more crunches. I'll be he wished they were working on mats.
I was impressed that no one appeared to be doing pushups on their knees, but otherwise, I was not impressed with the quality of the pushups, even among the 2nd & 3rd dan candidates. Somewhere I got the idea in my head that a black belt ought to be able to do 100 pushups, and I've been working on that goal myself on and off for almost two years now. Most of the sit-ups I observed were VERY shallow. If I were ever in a position to suggest an improvement to the curriculum at World Champion Taekwondo (and I don't suspect that I ever will be), I would suggest bringing back the yellow stripe, and having it represent milestones in physical fitness such as pushups, crunches and squats.
A ten-minute break followed endurance testing, and then the students drilled through basic techniques: punches blocks and stances. They finished this portion of the test with three sets of 100 punches. The first set was very impressive, the second set less so, the third set was a little pathetic, everyone was so tired that no one was pulling their punches all the way back to their belt any more. This might be another skill for me to practice as I prepare for my black belt test.
The kicking drills were conducted much the same way as the basic techniques: lots of combinations. Dominic commented later that it was a little hard to hear and understand the directions. They finished this set with 100 front kicks.
Another 10-minute break preceded the sparring portion of the test. We had been sitting in the bleachers for nearly two hours, so we were ready for a break ourselves. We went downstairs and walked out onto the floor and chatted with Dominic as he put on his sparring gear. The master instructed all of the students wearing glasses to remove them, and then they were paired up and instructed to demonstrate their skills without hurting each other (light contact). Master Jason commenting that he always negotiated with his partners in belt tests to go ahead and kick each other full force because light contact is boring. It was quite chaotic with 20 pairs of competitors kicking at each other, so they asked half of them to sit down. Dominic out-classed his partners in a big way. He loves sparring. He's small but quick. There was another 10-minute break after sparring for the students to change out of their gear.
At this point it's about 12:30 pm. I'm glad I packed plenty of snacks because there was no lunch break. The next item on the program was forms. I was surprised that they included the basic forms. I had only expected to see the tae guk forms. I was also surprised to see them performed out of order. I will need a lot of practice to be able to do that, and some of the students testing appeared to be in need of bit more practice. To keep things interesting, they had half the students sit down at one point and watch the other students perform, and then they switched. Then, they had half the students perform one form while the other half of the students performed a different form.
At 1:00, it was time for nun chucks. The poom candidates and the 1st dan candidates sat on the floors to watch because only the 2nd & 3rd dan candidates learn the nun chuck routines. It was something like forms, but they were only just numbered. They didn't have names. They just worked through a series of pre-defined movements. It looked cool. Dominic is looking forward to learning nun chucks. He will pretest for his 2nd dan three times in the next two years. I think he has to learn the first four routines for his first pre test.
At 1:00 pm it was time for speeches. The masters previously asked four people to prepare a few words. The first speech was given by a 30-something woman who was testing today for her 1st dan. She described how she and her husband used to work out at different things until they started practicing taekwondo together. He was testing for his 1st dan today, too. Master Jason commented that he knew them when they first started, so I'm guessing they studied at Master Kim's Portland location on West Union Road.
The second speech was given by a mother of one of the poom candidates. She described her son as "bouncing off the walls." It made me smile. That's how I got started in taekwondo: looking for something for my son. The third speech was given by a father who over came spinal injuries in order to practice taekwondo with his son. His son has been ready to test for some time now, but he's been waiting for his dad to test with him. His dad is currently a brown belt, so he's about a year away from his black belt test, but he convinced his son to go ahead and test today. The final speech was given by a black belt candidate who remarked how much he hates to exercise. I could really appreciate this. I really hate running for example. I used to like weight lifting, but he also commented how motivational he found the frequent rank advancements, and I had to agree with that, too. When my next belt test is only three months away, I'm very unlikely to slow down or take a break. Even the black belts pretest every six months.
Finally, it was time for board breaking. It rather a long time to hand out all the boards. Each student had to receive their boards from their master, presumably because the cost of the boards was paid from the e testing fee which is paid to the head master of each school. This is perhaps an indelicate detail, but it's a detail lots of people need to know, so I will share with you that the belt fee for this particular test was $550.00. I'm glad I discovered that because my daughter and I will hopefully test on the same day, and that is not a sum I can come up with all at once, but a year is more than enough time to save it up.
Anyway, each student received eight boards. The poom candidates received thinner boards than the dan candidates. Students held for each other, and they seemed to choose their own breaking techniques. Dominic broke his eight boards with four kicks, two at a time. Master Jason had gone down to the floor at this point to help hold boards, and he had to make some special effort to hold for Dominic as others, trying to help, kept offering to hold for him.
The closing ceremony began with the distribution of new uniforms. These uniforms featured the familiar school logo on the back, but they also included the words World Champion Taekwondo on the pants in large red letters. To be more specific, the word World appears on the outside of the left leg, the word Champion appears across the back of the jacket, below the belt, and the word Taekwondo appears on the outside of the right leg. This led to some confusion in Dominic's family because from the back the students all appear to be labeled as champions. In addition, the 1st dan uniforms feature a single black line on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg; the 2nd dan uniforms feature two black lines on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg; and the 3rd dan uniforms feature three black lines on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg.
When the students arrived in their new uniforms, the masters called them up one at a time to receive their new belts. The belts were all embroidered with the students name and either the name of the school or the name of their master. I can't remember. There was also some Korean embroidery. The 1st dan belts included a single gold bar embroidered at the end of the belt, the 2nd dan belts included two gold bars embroidered at the end of the belt, and the 3rd dan belts included three gold bars embroidered a the end of the belt. I believe the poom belts included the same embroidery, but they were not entirely black. They were divided in half lengthwise and one half was red and the other half was black. I can't remember if the it was the top half or the bottom half that was red, but I do remember that those little kids sure were happy running around in their new uniforms and belts.
The final element of the closing ceremony was a group picture.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Tae Guek Sa Jang
There are many sites on the Internet which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test, and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.
Tae Guek Sa (4th) Jang is represented by the symbol for_____.
From the Joon Be (ready) position:
Tae Guek Sa (4th) Jang is represented by the symbol for_____.
From the Joon Be (ready) position:
- Turn 90* to the left, stepping with the left foot in back stance and perform a double knife-hand block with the left hand forward.
- Perform a downward palm block with the left hand (from the belt), step forward with the right foot into front stance and perform a middle spear-hand strike with the right hand.
- Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in back stance and perform a double knife-hand block with the right hand forward.
- Perform a downward palm block with the left hand (from the belt), stepping forward with the left foot into front stance and perform a middle spear-hand strike with the left hand.
- Turn 90* to the left (facing flags) and step with the left foot into front stance (left foot forward) and perform open palm high block with the right hand and a chop with the right hand.
- With the right foot, perform a front kick coming down in front stance (right foot forward) and perform a middle punch with the left hand.
- Perform a side kick with the left foot, coming down in horse stance.
- Perform a side kick with right foot, coming down in back stance and perform a double knife-hand block. KI HAP! (yell)
- Turn 270* to the left (so that you are facing 90* to the right) and step with the left foot in back stance and perform a forearm block with the left hand.
- Perform a front kick with the right foot (fists at chest), returning to back stance (left foot forward) and an outside-in middle block with the right hand.
- Turn 180* to the right and find the right foot forward in back stance and perform a forearm block with the right hand.
- Perform a front kick with the left foot (fists at chest), returning to back stance (right foot forward) and an outside-in middle block with the left hand.
- Turn 90* to the left (back to flags) and step with the left foot in walking stance and perform a open-palm high block with the left hand and a chop with the right hand.
- Perform a front kick with the right foot (fists at chest) and land in front stance (right foot forward) and perform a back fist (from the belt) with the right hand.
- Turn 90* to the left and step with the left foot into walking stance and perform a outside-in middle block with the left hand and a middle punch with the right hand.
- Turn 180* to the right and find yourself in walking stance with the right foot forward and perform an outside-in middle block with the right hand and a middle punch with the left hand.
- Turn 90* to the left and step forward (toward the back) with the left foot into walking stance and perform an outside-in middle block with the left hand followed immediately by a middle punch with the right hand and another middle punch with the left hand.
- Step forward with the right foot in front stance and perform outside-in middle block with the right hand followed immediately by a middle punch with the left hand and another middle punch with the right hand. KI HAP! (yell)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Tae Guek Sam Jang
There are many sites on the Internet which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test, and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.
Tae Guek Sam (3rd ) Jang is represented by the symbol for fire.
From the Joon Be (ready) position:
Tae Guek Sam (3rd ) Jang is represented by the symbol for fire.
From the Joon Be (ready) position:
- Turn 90* to the left, stepping with the left foot in walking stance and perform a low block with the left hand.
- Perform a front kick with the right foot (fists on belt), coming down in front stance.
- Perform a middle punch with the right hand and another middle punch with the left hand.
- Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in walking stance and perform a low block with the right hand.
- Perform a front kick with the left foot (fists on belt), coming down in front stance
- Perform a middle punch with the left hand and another middle punch with the right hand.
- Turn 90* to the left (facing flags) and step with the left foot into walking stance (left foot forward) and perform a chop with the right hand.
- Step forward (facing flags) with the right foot in walking stance and perform a chop with the left hand.
- Turn 90* to the left and step with the left foot forward into back stance and perform a single knife block with the left hand.
- Shift into front stance by moving the front foot (left foot) and perform a middle punch with the right hand.
- Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot forward into back stance and perform a single knife block with the right hand.
- Shift into front stance by moving the front foot (right foot) and perform a middle punch with the left hand.
- Turn 90* degrees to the left (facing flags) and slide the left foot forward into walking stance and perform an outside-in middle block with the right hand.
- Step forward (facing flags) with the right foot in walking stance and perform an outside-in middle block with the left hand.
- Turn 270* to the left (so that you are facing 90* to the right) and step with the left foot in walking stance and perform a low block with the left hand.
- Perform a front kick with the right foot (fists on belt), coming down in front stance
- Perform a middle punch with the right hand and another middle punch with the left hand.
- Turn 180* to the right and find the right foot forward in walking stance and perform a low block with the right hand.
- Perform a front kick with the left foot (fists on belt), coming down in front stance.
- Perform a middle punch with the left hand and another middle punch with the right hand.
- Turn 90* to the left (back to flags) and step with the left foot in walking stance and perform a low block with the left hand followed immediately by a middle punch with the right hand.
- Step forward with the right foot in walking stance and perform a low block with the right hand followed immediately by a middle punch with the left hand.
- Perform a front kick with the left foot (fists at chest) and land in walking stance (left foot forward) and perform a low block with the left hand followed immediately by a middle punch with the right hand.
- Perform a front kick with the right foot (fists at chest) and land in walking stance (right foot forward) and perform a low block with the right hand followed immediately by a middle punch with the left hand. KI HAP! (yell)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
FarmVille Tips: Week 14
I was having a lot of fun the other day buying goods and converting them into fuel and farming my little heart out. Then I noticed that my coin total seemed to falling rather than rising after each round of harvesting, plowing and planting, so I began to wonder just how expensive were these goods compared to the net profit of the crops I was planting.
To answer that question I did some research online. I found a table that explained the cost of each level of crafted good compared to how much fuel it was worth, and I found another table listing the net profit of each crop. I left out the limited edition crops which come and go with each new theme. Those are usually very profitable, but this table is already quite unwieldy.
In order to make the table easier to read, I left out my calculations. My raw data came from Seeds and Sweet Sake at FarmVille.Wikia.com. I divided the cost of the good by the amount of fuel each good could buy, then I multiplied by three (harvest, plow & plant). Level 1 goods cost 33.3 coins per unit of fuel. Level 55 goods cost 21.3 coins per unit of fuel. I then compared those numbers to the net profit of each crop. The net profit of each crop was calculated adding 15 coins to the cost of the seeds (for plowing) and then subtracting that number from the yield.
The crops are listed in descending order of profitability, that is, yellow melons have the highest net profit. I did not divide the profit by the number of hours it takes to grow the crops, that might make another interesting table, but right now I'm most interested in cultivating specific crops in order to craft specific goods, but I still want to make SOME profit, so this table suits my needs at this time. I hope you also find it useful. Crops listed in boldface are those required to craft goods in a 1-Star Crafting Cottage.
| Item Level | Cost of Goods | Amount of Fuel | Crops which are still profitable even if you have to buy all your fuel at this price (XP Level) |
| Level 1 | 1,000 coins | 30 plots | Yellow Melon (33), Broccoli (35), Red Wheat (30), Cabbage (27), Corn (24), Lavender (30), Watermelon (18), Potatoes (21), Peas (32), Sunflowers (25), Grapes (19), Yellow Roses (1), Forget-Me-Not (90), Lilies (35), Cucumber (43), White Roses (80), Ginger (42), Rye (21), Pineapples (15), Asparagus (37), Artichokes (6), Pink Roses (20), Cotton (9), Amaranth (76), Bamboo (60), Chickpea (10), Bell Peppers (11), Coffee (23), Agave (27), and Iris (45) |
| Level 2 | 1,100 coins | 35 plots | The above listed crops and White Grapes (29) |
| Level 3 | 1,200 coins | 40 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 4 | 1,300 coins | 45 plots | The above listed crops and Onion (34) |
| Level 5 | 1,400 coins | 50 plots | The above listed crops and Basil (48) and Heirloom Carrot (57) |
| Level 6 | 1,500 coins | 55 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 7 | 1,600 coins | 60 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 8 | 1,700 coins | 65 plots | The above listed crops and Pattypan Squash (16) |
| Level 9 | 1,800 coins | 70 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 10 | 1,900 coins | 75 plots | The above listed crops and Peppers (12) |
| Level 11 | 2,000 coins | 80 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 12 | 2,100 coins | 85 plots | The above listed crops and Carrots (22), Posole Corn (54) and Purple Pod Peas (40) |
| Level 13 | 2,200 coins | 90 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 14 | 2,300 coins | 95 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 15 | 2,400 coins | 100 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 16 | 2,500 coins | 105 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 17 | 2,600 coins | 110 plots | The above listed crops andGreen Tea (28) |
| Level 18 | 2,700 coins | 115 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 19 | 2,800 coins | 120 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 20 | 2,900 coins | 125 plots | The above listed crops and Oats (53) and Saffron (64) |
| Level 21 | 3,000 coins | 130 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 22 | 3,100 coins | 135 plots | The above listed crops and Red Tulips (15) |
| Level 23 | 3,200 coins | 140 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 24 | 3,300 coins | 145 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 25 | 3,400 coins | 150 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 26 | 3,500 coins | 155 plots | The above listed crops and Acorn Squash (36) |
| Level 27 | 3,600 coins | 160 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 28 | 3,700 coins | 165 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 29 | 3,800 coins | 170 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 30 | 3,900 coins | 175 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 31 | 4,000 coins | 180 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 32 | 4,100 coins | 185 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 33 | 4,200 coins | 190 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 34 | 4,300 coins | 195 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 35 | 4,400 coins | 200 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 36 | 4,500 coins | 205 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 37 | 4,600 coins | 210 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 38 | 4,700 coins | 215 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 39 | 4,800 coins | 220 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 40 | 4,900 coins | 225 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 41 | 5,000 coins | 230 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 42 | 5,100 coins | 235 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 43 | 5,200 coins | 240 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 44 | 5,300 coins | 245 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 45 | 5,400 coins | 250 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 46 | 5,500 coins | 255 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 47 | 5,600 coins | 260 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 48 | 5,700 coins | 265 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 49 | 5,800 coins | 270 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 50 | 5,900 coins | 275 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 51 | 6,000 coins | 280 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 52 | 6,100 coins | 285 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 53 | 6,200 coins | 290 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 54 | 6,300 coins | 295 plots | The above listed crops |
| Level 55 | 6,400 coins | 300 plots | The above listed crops |
The following crops are not profitable if you have to buy all your fuel: Daffodils (8), Elderberry (39), Sugar Cane (31), Tomatoes (20), Eggplant (1),Morning Glory (13), Lemon Balm (50), Peanuts (1), Ghost Chili (26), Rice (7), Soybeans (1), Wheat (1), Clover (70), Cranberries (10), Black Berries (29),Blueberries (17), Lilac (4), Pumpkin (5), Purple Poppies (38),Aloe Vera (14), Raspberries (8) and Strawberries (1).
Another thing that surprised me about this list is that it doesn't seem to matter if you make your Level 15 good in a 1-Star Cottage or a 2-Star Cottage, so where's the value of leveling up your cottage. Well here it is: when you craft a good in a 1-Star Cottage, you receive 2 in your inventory, but when you craft a good in a 2-Star Cottage, you receive 2 in your inventory.
The goods in a 1-Star Cottage start out as Level 1 goods, and you have to level them up a certain number of times before you can level up your cottage. The goods in a 2-Star Cottage start out as Level 3 goods, and you have to level them up a certain number of times before you can level up your cottage. My original plan had been to level up my first three recipes as high as I could and then level up my cottage and work on the next set of recipes, but now I think it's best to level up the cottage as soon as possible and start working on the 2-Star recipes right away. The 3-Star recipes are bound be even better.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Farmville Tips: Week 13
I didn't write any tips for Weeks 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 (so don't waste any time looking for them). I still want to write about ribbons, but I’m currently obsessed with finding a queen bee.
Beehives were introduced on 07/13/2010 (two weeks ago). It took me a few days (maybe a week) to collect all the materials to complete my beehive, now I need to find a queen bee before I can fill the hive with bees. I've been receiving bees as gifts, but I can't put them in the hive until I find a queen bee. Queen bees are a rare item. There is a 6% chance of finding a queen bee whenever you harvest or fertilize flowers, so I've been planting my whole farm in flowers for a few days now, but I haven't found the queen bee yet, so the quest continues.
Last night (07/26/2010) I finally received my crafting cottage. This is going to be a rather complex feature in FarmVille. Inside the cottage, you can use bushels to craft goods. You can sell the goods to your neighbors for coins. Your neighbors can trade the goods for fuel (and other bonuses). By pollinating your crops (with bees), you increase your chances of finding bushels, so the bee hive and the crafting cottage and the farmers market all work together. I think that's what makes this part of the game a little complicated. I think I like complicated.
My personal challenge is going to be collecting bushels from what I call the short-date crops. That is, the crops that must be harvested less than 24 hours after planting. I can really only plant these crops on the weekend because during the week, I can really only play in the evening after work, so here I've decided to create some tables listing the recipes for the goods and the length of time to harvest each crop. Boldface indicates crops which are ready to harvest in less than 12 hours (because they will start to wither in less than 24 hours).
Of course, you can level up your recipes and you can level up your crafting cottage which unlocks more recipes. The crafting cottage will actually change appearance as it levels up, much like the other buildings change appearance when the expand. I think I'll try to combine co-op farming with my quest for bushels, I know there are carrot, cranberry, grape, pumpkin, and rice co-ops. That should help because not only would I find lots of bushel, but my neighbors would find bushels, too. I'll have to find out which neighbors have the same crafting cottage that I do, and then invite them to be a part of my co-op. Yeah, that's a great idea.
The tables I made before to help me keep track of which trees and animals are most profitable are proving too complicated, so I'm making up some new ones. These group the trees and animals together in groups based on how many coins per day per square each item produces.
Nursery Barn Another thing I've been meaning to pencil out is the profitability of using the nursery barn. Like the chicken coop, dairy barn and stable, the nursery barn makes it easier to harvest coins from calves and foals; however, the nursery barn also transforms them into cows and horses. Generally, cows and horses produce fewer coins per day than calves and foals, so it might not be worth it.
The nursery barn occupies 63 squares on the farm (7x9=63), but it only holds 20 animals. Twenty calves would only occupy 20 squares on the farm, but 20 foals would occupy 80 squares (4x20=80), so from a land use perspective, it is only profitable to fill it with foals.
Foal and calves both produce 80 coins per day, but because foals occupy four squares and calves occupy one square, calves produce 80 coins per square per day and foals produce 20 coins per square per day (80/4=20).
All foals (80 coins per day) transform into a black horse, a cream draft horse or a light blue pony. The horses and pony earn 21 coins per day outside the stable, but they earn 84 coins per day inside the stable, so if you have plenty of room in your stable, it IS profitable to transform your foals to horses. It's also fun to see if you can fill your stable with black horses, cream draft horses or light blue pony because then you can start producing black foals, cream draft foals and blue pony foals for your neighbors.
All calves (80 coins per day) transform into Holstein cows (12 coins per day) or chocolate cows (80 coins per day). Because the Holstein cows earn so very much less than the calves, but chocolate cows earn just as much, I've created the following table to remind me which calves I might transform, and which ones I definitely shouldn't.
Beehives were introduced on 07/13/2010 (two weeks ago). It took me a few days (maybe a week) to collect all the materials to complete my beehive, now I need to find a queen bee before I can fill the hive with bees. I've been receiving bees as gifts, but I can't put them in the hive until I find a queen bee. Queen bees are a rare item. There is a 6% chance of finding a queen bee whenever you harvest or fertilize flowers, so I've been planting my whole farm in flowers for a few days now, but I haven't found the queen bee yet, so the quest continues.
Last night (07/26/2010) I finally received my crafting cottage. This is going to be a rather complex feature in FarmVille. Inside the cottage, you can use bushels to craft goods. You can sell the goods to your neighbors for coins. Your neighbors can trade the goods for fuel (and other bonuses). By pollinating your crops (with bees), you increase your chances of finding bushels, so the bee hive and the crafting cottage and the farmers market all work together. I think that's what makes this part of the game a little complicated. I think I like complicated.
My personal challenge is going to be collecting bushels from what I call the short-date crops. That is, the crops that must be harvested less than 24 hours after planting. I can really only plant these crops on the weekend because during the week, I can really only play in the evening after work, so here I've decided to create some tables listing the recipes for the goods and the length of time to harvest each crop. Boldface indicates crops which are ready to harvest in less than 12 hours (because they will start to wither in less than 24 hours).
| Farmville Bakery Recipes | ||
| 1-Star Recipes (recipes which can be made in a 1-star bakery) Preparation Time: 6 hours Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory | ||
| Pumpkin Bread | 4 Pumpkin Bushels | 8 hours |
| 4 Wheat Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Strawberry Shortcake | 4 Strawberries Bushels | 4 hours |
| 4 Wheat Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Spicy Muffins | 3 Carrot Bushels | 12 hours |
| 1 Pepper Bushel | 1 day | |
| 3 Ghost Chili Bushels | 6 hours | |
| 2-Star Recipes (recipes which are unlocked in a 2-star bakery) Preparation Time: 6 hours Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory | ||
| Pattypan Tart | 2 Onion Bushels | 12 hours |
| 3 Rice Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 3 Pattypan Squash Bushels | 16 hours | |
| Triple Berry Pie | 3 Blueberry Bushels | 4 hours |
| 2 Blackberry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| 3 Raspberry Bushels | 2 hours | |
| Peanut Butter Cookies | 2 Peanut Bushels | 16 hours |
| 3 Rice Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 3 Sugar Cane Bushels | 8 hours | |
| 3-Star Recipes (recipes which are unlocked in a 3-star bakery) | ||
| Raspberry Blondie | 2 Wheat Bushels | 12 hours |
| 3 Rice Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 3 Raspberry Bushels | 2 hours | |
| Vegetable Tart | 1 Broccoli Bushel | 2 days |
| 2 Asparagus Bushels | 16 hours | |
| 3 Peas Bushels | 1 day | |
| Mocha Blackberry Tart | 3 Coffee Bushels | 16 hours |
| 2 Rice Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 3 Black Berry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| 4-Star Recipes (recipes which are unlocked in a 4-star bakery) | ||
| Oatmeal Cookies | 4 Oat Bushels | 8 hours |
| 2 Wheat Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 2 Sugar Cane Bushels | 8 hours | |
| Baked Cucumber | 1 Cucumber Bushel | 1 day |
| 4 Basil Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 1 Pepper Bushel | 1 day | |
| Pizza Bread | 4 Wheat Bushels | 12 hours |
| 2 Tomato Bushels | 8 hours | |
| 2 Basil Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 5-Star Recipes (recipes which are unlocked in a 5-star bakery) | ||
| Ginger Snaps | 2 Ginger Bushels | 18 hours |
| 2 Sugar Cane Bushels | 8 hours | |
| 2 Oat Bushels | 8 hours | |
| 2 Rice Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Potato and Onion Bread | 1 Potato Bushel | 3 days |
| 2 Onion Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 2 Wheat Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 1 Posole Corn Bushel | 12 hours | |
| Carrot Cake | 2 Carrot Bushels | 12 hours |
| 1 Red Wheat Bushel | 3 days | |
| 1 Soybean Bushel | 1 day | |
| 2 Cranberry Bushels | 10 hours | |
| Farmville Winery Recipes | ||
| 1-Star Recipes (recipes which can be made in a 1-star winery) Preparation Time: 6 hours Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory | ||
| Sweet Sake (aka Sweet Energy Drink) |
5 Rice Bushels | 12 hours |
| 3 Cranberry Bushels | 10 hours | |
| White Sangria (aka White Grape Cooler) |
3 White Grape Bushels | 12 hours |
| 2 Sugar Cane Bushels | 8 hours | |
| 3 Strawberry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| Red Table Wine (Rich Grape Juice) |
2 Grape Bushels | 1 day |
| 5 White Grape Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 2-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 2-star winery) Preparation time: 6 hours Yield: 3 for sale & 1 for personal inventory | ||
| Fruit Wine (aka Fruit Punch) |
3 Raspberry Bushels | 2 hours |
| 3 Blueberry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| 2 Sugar Cane Bushels | 8 hours | |
| Spicy Tomato Juice | 3 Tomato Bushels | 8 hours |
| 3 Pepper Bushels | 1 day | |
| 3 Carrot Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Dry Sake (aka Spiced Lilac Tea) |
4 Rice Bushels | 12 hours |
| 2 Green Tea Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 2 Lilac Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 3-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 3-star winery) | ||
| Blackberry Wine (aka Blackberry Explosion) |
3 Black Berry Bushels | 4 hours |
| 1 Grape Bushel | 1 day | |
| 3 White Grape Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Strawberry & Cranberry Juice | 3 Strawberry Bushels | 4 hours |
| 2 Raspberry Bushels | 2 hours | |
| 3 Cranberry Bushels | 10 hours | |
| Raspberry Wine (aka Raspberry Energy Drink) |
3 Raspberry Bushels | 2 hours |
| 2 Black Berry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| 2 Grape Bushels | 1 day | |
| 4-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 4-star winery) | ||
| Blueberry Wine (aka Blueberry Delight) |
4 Blueberry Bushels | 4 hours |
| 2 Black Berry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| 2 White Grape Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Herbal Elixir | 3 Basil Bushels | 10 hours |
| 3 Ginger Bushels | 18 hours | |
| 2 Green Tea Bushels | 10 hours | |
| Pumpkin Vinegar | 4 Pumpkin Bushels | 8 hours |
| 2 Acorn Squash Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 2 Rice Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 5-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 5-star winery) | ||
| Cucumber Wine (aka Cucumber Cooler) |
2 Cucumber Bushels | 1 day |
| 1 Squash Bushel | 2 days | |
| 2 Acorn Squash Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 1 Rice Bushel | 12 hours | |
| Rose Petal Water | 1 Pink Rose Bushel | 2 days |
| 1 Lavender Bushel | 2 days | |
| 2 Morning Glory Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 1 Sunflower Bushel | 1 day | |
| Melon Juice | 1 Yellow Melon Bushel | 4 days |
| 1 Watermelon Bushel | 4 days | |
| 2 Carrot Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 1 Strawberry Bushel | 4 hours | |
| Farmville Spa Recipes | ||
| 1-Star Recipes recipes which can be made in a 1-star spa Prepartation Time: 6 hours Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory | ||
| Fresh Sachet | 3 Pumpkin Bushels | 8 hours |
| 3 Cranberry Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 1 Sunflower Bushel | 1 day | |
| Floral Perfume | 4 Blueberry Bushels | 2 hours |
| 4 Morning Glory Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Soothing Herbal Lotion | 4 Aloe Vera Bushels | 6 hours |
| 4 Green Tea Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 2-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 2-star spa) Preparation Time: 6 hours Yield: 3 for sale & 1 for personal inventory | ||
| Relaxation Oil | 4 Blackberry Bushels | 4 hours |
| 4 Morning Glory Bushels | 12 hours | |
| Devotion Perfume | 3 Blueberry Bushels | 4 hours |
| 3 Lilac Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 2 Basil Bushels | 10 hours | |
| Petal Sachet | 1 Iris Bushel | 1 day |
| 2 Sunflower Bushels | 1 day | |
| 1 Pepper Bushel | 1 day | |
| 3-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 3-star spa) | ||
| Energizing Lotion | 1 Red Tulip Bushel | 3 days |
| 3 Aloe Vera Bushels | 6 hours | |
| 3 Black Berry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| Restoring Candle | 4 Green Tea Bushels | 10 hours |
| 2 Ghost Chili Bushels | 6 hours | |
| 1 Sunflower Bushel | 1 day | |
| Lily of the Valley Soap | 1 Lily Bushel | 1 day |
| 3 Blueberry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| 3 Morning Glory Bushels | 12 hours | |
| 4-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 4-star spa) | ||
| Iris Soap | 2 Iris Bushels | 1 day |
| 3 Aloe Vera Bushels | 6 hours | |
| 1 Sunflower Bushel | 1 day | |
| Meditation Candle | 3 Lemon Balm Bushels | 6 hours |
| 3 Green Tea Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 2 Ginger Bushels | 18 hours | |
| Pick Me Up Sachet | 3 Lemon Balm Bushels | 6 hours |
| 2 Coffee Bushels | 16 hours | |
| 3 Basil Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 5-Star Recipes (recipes unlocked in a 5-star spa) | ||
| Iris Soap | 2 Ginger Bushels | 18 hours |
| 1 Lavender Bushel | 2 days | |
| 2 Lilac Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 2 Purple Poppy Bushels | 8 hours | |
| Meditation Candle | 1 Daffodil Bushel | 2 days |
| 2 Aloe Vera Bushels | 6 hours | |
| 2 Strawberry Bushels | 4 hours | |
| 1 Lily Bushel | 1 day | |
| Pick Me Up Sachet | 1 Pink Rose Bushel | 2 days |
| 1 Daffodil Bushel | 2 days | |
| 2 Lilac Bushels | 10 hours | |
| 2 Morning Glory Bushels | 12 hours | |
Of course, you can level up your recipes and you can level up your crafting cottage which unlocks more recipes. The crafting cottage will actually change appearance as it levels up, much like the other buildings change appearance when the expand. I think I'll try to combine co-op farming with my quest for bushels, I know there are carrot, cranberry, grape, pumpkin, and rice co-ops. That should help because not only would I find lots of bushel, but my neighbors would find bushels, too. I'll have to find out which neighbors have the same crafting cottage that I do, and then invite them to be a part of my co-op. Yeah, that's a great idea.
The tables I made before to help me keep track of which trees and animals are most profitable are proving too complicated, so I'm making up some new ones. These group the trees and animals together in groups based on how many coins per day per square each item produces.
Level | Animals (coins per day per square) |
| Level 1 (1-10 coins per day per square) |
cow (1.5); brown, groovy & Holstein cows (3); circus elephant (3.5), pink cow (4.5); silver pony (7); chicken (8); white-tailed buck (8.3); sheep & birthday sheep (9.3); reindeer (10) |
| Level 2 (11-20 coins per day per square) |
male ostrich (11.3); duck, party duck, chinchilla, pig, black pig, Ossabow pig, rabbit, gray rabbit & squirrel (15); brown chicken (16); black sheep (18.7); bull, chocolate cow & foals (20) |
| Level 3 (21-40 coins per day per square) |
horses & ponies (21); party pig (25); goat, Boer goat & Saanes goat (27), Mouflon sheep, llama & poncho llama (28); black cat, Himalayan cat & turlte (28.7); grey tabby & lop-eared bunny & white kitty (30); black chicken (32); brown goose, farm goose, swan & turkies (40) |
| Level 4 (41-80 coins per day per square) |
peacock (45), golden chicken, Cornish Chicken, Rhode Island Red & Scots Grey (64); calves (80) |
| Level 5 (81-160 coins per day per square) |
snow leopards (150) |
| Level | Trees (coins per day per square) |
| Level 1 (1-10 coins per day per square) |
cherry (9); apple (9.3); orange & plum (10) |
| Level 2 (11-20 coins per day per square) |
|
| Level 3 (21-40 coins per day per square) |
pomegranate (12.6, available as a mystery gift); date (23, available as a gift at Level 20); olive (28, available as a gift at Level 32); mango (32.5, available as a gift at Level 40) |
| Level 4 (41-80 coins per day per square) |
ginko (43.3); arjuna (46.6); jackfruit & lychee (46.7); acai (79) |
Nursery Barn Another thing I've been meaning to pencil out is the profitability of using the nursery barn. Like the chicken coop, dairy barn and stable, the nursery barn makes it easier to harvest coins from calves and foals; however, the nursery barn also transforms them into cows and horses. Generally, cows and horses produce fewer coins per day than calves and foals, so it might not be worth it.
The nursery barn occupies 63 squares on the farm (7x9=63), but it only holds 20 animals. Twenty calves would only occupy 20 squares on the farm, but 20 foals would occupy 80 squares (4x20=80), so from a land use perspective, it is only profitable to fill it with foals.
Foal and calves both produce 80 coins per day, but because foals occupy four squares and calves occupy one square, calves produce 80 coins per square per day and foals produce 20 coins per square per day (80/4=20).
All foals (80 coins per day) transform into a black horse, a cream draft horse or a light blue pony. The horses and pony earn 21 coins per day outside the stable, but they earn 84 coins per day inside the stable, so if you have plenty of room in your stable, it IS profitable to transform your foals to horses. It's also fun to see if you can fill your stable with black horses, cream draft horses or light blue pony because then you can start producing black foals, cream draft foals and blue pony foals for your neighbors.
All calves (80 coins per day) transform into Holstein cows (12 coins per day) or chocolate cows (80 coins per day). Because the Holstein cows earn so very much less than the calves, but chocolate cows earn just as much, I've created the following table to remind me which calves I might transform, and which ones I definitely shouldn't.
| These calves will transform into Holstein cows and earn only 12 coins per day. They should not be placed in the Nursery Barn. | These calves will transform into chocolate cows and earn 80 coins per day. They can be placed in the Nursery Barn. |
| calf brown calf Holstein calf Longhorn calf belted calf groovy calf chocolate calf |
pink calf pink patch calf fan calf green calf Kelley green calf Neapolitan calf |
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Farmville Tips: Week Seven
I didn't write any tips for Weeks 3, 4, 5 or 6 (so don't waste any time looking for them). I had wanted to write about ribbons, but I might wait until I earn a few more of them to start writing about them. I'm still mostly obsessed with the layout of my farm and expansions (06/15/10).
Neighbors:
The first obstacle I faced in expanding my farm was the neighbor requirement. I finally got tired of pestering my real friends to add me as a neighbor to the farm they never visit anymore, and I visited one of those FarmVille fan pages on Facebook. Those pages are filled with people asking for more neighbors. I didn't put my name on the page, but I did send friend requests to several of the people I found there. I had my 'celebrity' ribbon (50 neighbors) in less than a week, and I'm getting gifts like crazy.
Expansions:
This week (06/13/2010) I finally put together the 500,000 Coins I needed to purchase the final expansion for my farm. I wasted no time in using the extra space for placing 250 fences and earning my 'fenced in' ribbon. Next on my hit list is the architect ribbon and the bailed out ribbon. These are earned by purchasing building and hay bails. I plan to follow the example of one of my highest ranked neighbors and set aside the northernmost corner of my farm for housing, the eastern most corner of the farm for animals and the southern most corner of the farm for a village (post office, school, stuff like that).
Co-ops:
There are three co-op ribbons to earn. Most of the co-op crops have short harvest times of one day or less, so I try to start a co-op every Friday night, so I can plant on Friday and harvest on Saturday morning. It's a good idea to let your friends know what you're planning a few days in advance, so they can be sure to have all their crops harvested by Friday night.
Trees and animals:
I think I wrote before that it is my goal to have sixteen of each tree. I've decided that I'll match that with sixteen of each animal as well. Trees and animals are not as profitable as crops, but they are less risky. They don't whither, so if you can neglect your farm for a week, come back and still have a nice payday, if you have plenty of trees and animals. I finally leveled up to the olive tree. I think this is the most profitable tree, so after I collect sixteen of each, I might start replacing them all with olive trees, maybe not. I like the variety, too.
I have placed my trees on my farm according to availability. I think this probably corresponds to their profitability. I would like to do the same thing with my animals, but I haven't found an appropriate reference table. I'll probably have to make one myself. the trouble with that of course is that FarmVille is still in beta testing, so any data that I collect is subject to change without notice. Please report any errors you notice.
Chicken Coop:
Now that I have chicken coop, I have learned that it can be expanded with a barn-raising. You just need to get 10 friends to click a link on your profile page within three days. The coop can be expanded twice: from 20 to 40 and then from 40 to 60. There are currently seven different kinds of chickens. My goal is to fill my coop with 15 chickens each of the golden, cornish, scots grey and rhode island red varieties.
Dairy Farm:
Now that I have a dairy farm, I know that in addition to making it easier to harvest milk from several cows it can also produce calves. Like the chickens, the cows produce milk of varying value. I got the values in the following table from web sites on the Internet. I'm not sure that they are correct, but if they are, then its my goal to fill my dairy barn with chocolate cows.
Stable:
Now that I have a stable, I have learned that it can be expanded. I have also learned that the horses in the stable occasionally produce foals. It is my goal to fill my stable with cream colored draft horses in order to produce cream colored draft foals. These are pretty hard to come by, so it will probably take me a long time to realize this goal. I have brown horses, gray horses and black horses. They all produce horse hair at the same rate: 84 coins per day
Neighbors:
The first obstacle I faced in expanding my farm was the neighbor requirement. I finally got tired of pestering my real friends to add me as a neighbor to the farm they never visit anymore, and I visited one of those FarmVille fan pages on Facebook. Those pages are filled with people asking for more neighbors. I didn't put my name on the page, but I did send friend requests to several of the people I found there. I had my 'celebrity' ribbon (50 neighbors) in less than a week, and I'm getting gifts like crazy.
Expansions:
This week (06/13/2010) I finally put together the 500,000 Coins I needed to purchase the final expansion for my farm. I wasted no time in using the extra space for placing 250 fences and earning my 'fenced in' ribbon. Next on my hit list is the architect ribbon and the bailed out ribbon. These are earned by purchasing building and hay bails. I plan to follow the example of one of my highest ranked neighbors and set aside the northernmost corner of my farm for housing, the eastern most corner of the farm for animals and the southern most corner of the farm for a village (post office, school, stuff like that).
Co-ops:
There are three co-op ribbons to earn. Most of the co-op crops have short harvest times of one day or less, so I try to start a co-op every Friday night, so I can plant on Friday and harvest on Saturday morning. It's a good idea to let your friends know what you're planning a few days in advance, so they can be sure to have all their crops harvested by Friday night.
Trees and animals:
I think I wrote before that it is my goal to have sixteen of each tree. I've decided that I'll match that with sixteen of each animal as well. Trees and animals are not as profitable as crops, but they are less risky. They don't whither, so if you can neglect your farm for a week, come back and still have a nice payday, if you have plenty of trees and animals. I finally leveled up to the olive tree. I think this is the most profitable tree, so after I collect sixteen of each, I might start replacing them all with olive trees, maybe not. I like the variety, too.
I have placed my trees on my farm according to availability. I think this probably corresponds to their profitability. I would like to do the same thing with my animals, but I haven't found an appropriate reference table. I'll probably have to make one myself. the trouble with that of course is that FarmVille is still in beta testing, so any data that I collect is subject to change without notice. Please report any errors you notice.
| Tree | Harvest Reward | Days Between Harvests | Harvest Value Per Day | Available |
| Acai Tree | 158 Coins | 2 days | 79.0 Coins per day | available for cash |
| Jackfruit Tree | 140 Coins | 3 days | 46.7 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Ginko Tree | 130 Coins | 3 days | 43.3 Coins per day | available as a gift after Level 59 |
| Mango Tree | 130 Coins | 4 days | 32.5 Coins per day | available as a gift after Level 40 |
| Olive Tree | 112 Coins | 4 days | 28.0 Coins per day | available as a gift after Level 20 |
| Date Tree | 69 Coins | 3 days | 23.0 Coins per day | available as a gift |
| Pomegranate Tree | 108 Coins | 5 days | 21.6 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Mandarin Tree | 80 Coins | 4 days | 20.0 Coins per day | |
| Rainbow Apple Tree | 60 Coins | 3 days | 20.0 Coins per day | available for purchase from the market for 500 Coins when using the iPhone or iPod application. |
| Banana Tree | 56 Coins | 3 days | 18.7 Coins per day | available as a gift |
| Passion Fruit Tree | 93 Coins | 5 days | 18.6 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Almond Tree | 55 Coins | 3 days | 18.3 Coins per day | |
| Breadfruit Tree | 55 Coins | 3 days | 18.3 Coins per day | |
| Guava Tree | 55 Coins | 3 days | 18.3 Coins per day | |
| Gulmohar Tree | 55 Coins | 3 days | 18.3 Coins per day | available as a gift |
| Grapefruit Tree | 50 Coins | 3 days | 16.7 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Walnut Tree | 50 Coins | 3 days | 16.7 Coins per day | available from mystery gift |
| Durian Tree | 65 Coins | 4 days | 16.3 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Starfruit Tree | 65 Coins | 4 days | 16.3 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Lime Tree | 75 Coins | 5 days | 15.0 Coins per day | available from the market for Coins |
| Apricot Tree | 56 Coins | 4 days | 14.0 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Cashew Tree | 41 Coins | 3 days | 13.7 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Lemon Tree | 41 Coins | 3 days | 13.7 Coins per day | available from the market for coins |
| White Apple Tree | 40 Coins | 3 days | 13.3 Coins per day | available as a gift from your friends using the iPhone or iPod application. |
| Yellow Maple Tree | 25 Coins | 2 days | 12.5 Coins per day | available as a gift |
| Avocado Tree | 37 Coins | 3 days | 12.3 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Peach Tree | 47 Coins | 4 days | 11.8 Coins per day | available from the market for coins |
| Tamarind Tree | 35 Coins | 3 days | 11.7 Coins per day | available as a gift |
| Fig Tree | 33 Coins | 3 days | 11.0 Coins per day | available as a mystery gift |
| Orange Tree | 40 Coins | 4 days | 10.0 Coins per day | available from the market for coins |
| Plum Tree | 30 Coins | 3 days | 10.0 Coins per day | available from the market for coins |
| Apple Tree | 28 Coins | 3 days | 9.3 Coins per day | available from the market for coins |
| Cherry Tree | 18 Coins | 2 days | 9.0 Coins per day | available from the market for coins |
Chicken Coop:
Now that I have chicken coop, I have learned that it can be expanded with a barn-raising. You just need to get 10 friends to click a link on your profile page within three days. The coop can be expanded twice: from 20 to 40 and then from 40 to 60. There are currently seven different kinds of chickens. My goal is to fill my coop with 15 chickens each of the golden, cornish, scots grey and rhode island red varieties.
| Name | Harvest Reward | Days Between Harvests | Harvest Value Per Day | Available |
| Level 1 Chicken | 8 coins | 1 day | 8 coins per day | available as a gift |
| Level 2 Brown Chicken | 16 coins | 1 day | 16 coins per day | available from white and brown mystery eggs |
| Level 3 Black Chicken | 32 coins | 1 day | 32 coins per day | available from brown and black mystery eggs |
| Level 4 Golden Chicken | 64 coins | 1 day | 64 coins per day | available from black and golden mystery eggs |
| Level 5 Cornish Chicken | 64 coins | 1 day | 64 coins per day | available from golden and cornish mystery eggs |
| Level 6 Scots Grey Chicken | 64 coins | 1 day | 64 coins per day | available from golden and sctos grey mystery eggs |
| Level 7 Rhode Island Red Chicken | 64 coins | 1 day | 64 coins per day | available from golden and rhode island red mystery eggs |
Dairy Farm:
Now that I have a dairy farm, I know that in addition to making it easier to harvest milk from several cows it can also produce calves. Like the chickens, the cows produce milk of varying value. I got the values in the following table from web sites on the Internet. I'm not sure that they are correct, but if they are, then its my goal to fill my dairy barn with chocolate cows.
| Name | Harvest Reward | Days Between Harvests | Harvest Value Per Day | Available |
| Cow | 6 coins | 1 day | 6 coins per day | available as a gift |
| Brown Cow | 12 coins | 1 day | 12 coins per day | available through adoptions |
| Groovy Cow | 12 coins | 1 day | 12 coins per day | available through adoption |
| Pink Cow | 18 coins | 1 day | 18 coins per day | available through adoption |
| Holstein Cow | 18 coins | 1 day | 18 coins per day | available from the nursery barn |
| Chocolate Cow | 80 coins | 1 day | 80 coins per day | available from the nursery barn |
Stable:
Now that I have a stable, I have learned that it can be expanded. I have also learned that the horses in the stable occasionally produce foals. It is my goal to fill my stable with cream colored draft horses in order to produce cream colored draft foals. These are pretty hard to come by, so it will probably take me a long time to realize this goal. I have brown horses, gray horses and black horses. They all produce horse hair at the same rate: 84 coins per day
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