For many of us in Arkansas, our exciting fall football Saturday afternoon was interrupted by Nick Fairlie when he horse-collared Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett in the second quarter. Perhaps most fans were able to forget about this when backup QB Tyler Wilson came in and threw for about 500 yards until things unraveled thanks to the refs and mistakes late in the second half. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozJajhXSTJE)

In case we Arkansas football fans were able to overlook Mallett’s head injury while we focused on curious referee decisions on Saturday, we were reminded on Sunday about the violence of this game many of us love to play, watch, and support. Violent hits to the head were delivered, and concussions visited upon, so many players that it is hard to count. But, just for fun, I’ll list the few I can remember — Todd Heap of the Baltimore Ravens, Josh Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi of the Cleveland Browns (both by James Harrison, who likes to “hurt, but not injure” his opponents), and DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Jackson hit was, by far, the most painful. Take a look, but be warned that it is difficult to watch:

What’s worse, this horrific news and video came out of another college game this weekend, but it may have gone under the radar for many since the game did not involve major football powerhouses:

“Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand is paralyzed from the neck down after being injured in a game this weekend, team officials said Sunday. Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano said LeGrand suffered a spinal cord injury in Saturday’s game against Army when he made a tackle on a kickoff return with 5:10 to play in the game. The junior underwent emergency surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center to stabilize his spine but has no movement below his neck. He will remain at the hospital indefinitely”

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I realize that these young men and adults make an active choice to play this game, just like boxers make the choice to engage in sport that may well cause severe injury. However, it does make me think of the stories of Roman Gladiator matches, in which the gladiators (some willing volunteers and some not), according to Wikipedia, “entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators”. In our large modern “Colosseums”, our football gladiators engage in thrilling (but sometimes dangerous) sport for their own enjoyment and we all benefit as spectators.

Is this OK? Perhaps society, as a whole, has decided that the collective positives of the game (excitement, physical training, discipline-buidling, camaraderie, and the potential for riches for players; excitement, fun, and community building for the spectators) may exceed the collective negatives (glorification of violence for all of us and the possibility of severe injuries for the players) of the game … Or … perhaps we choose to blissfully ignore the negatives so that we can continue to enjoy our tailgating, partying, and even community-building on football Saturdays and Sundays during the beautiful Autumn weekends.

Then, again, I may be irrationally thinking about the true danger of the sport after a particularly violent football weekend that is not representative of the actual risks facing players on a week by week basis. And I may simply be noticing these injuries more as my young children get older and closer to the age of the Rutgers football player who ran into the football stadium on Saturday, was carted out, and may never, ever, walk again.

In the end, I am not sure what to do with these thoughts? Might we all be better off with less football? And, if so, can we perhaps wait until next week to kick our football habit so that we get to shower Houston Nutt with boos when he re-enters Fayetteville on Saturday morning??

In an earlier post I mentioned that Davis Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who made An Inconvenient Truth and It Might Get Loud, is coming out with a new movie about the state of education in the U.S.  Waiting for Superman will be released in select theaters tomorrow, with more theaters to follow in the coming weeks.  So far I don’t know of any theaters that will carry the movie in Arkansas, but if the film does well it should come here eventually.

Early indications suggest that the movie is very well done.  And Guggenheim has been everywhere promoting the movie this week.  Here is an interview he did yesterday on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Guggenheim was also on Oprah Monday, and Oprah is dedicating her Friday show to the film as well.  And she is also promising a “major announcement.”  Here, as long as Harpo doesn’t remove them, are youtube vids of the entire Oprah episode.

Details here.  Apparently only 700 tickets will be sold.  Supporters will have first dibs.

Earlier we made the case (here) that changing Fayetteville’s HMR tax so it could be used for development and maintenance of parks, instead of just development of new parks, was a bad idea.   We argued that we’d rather see the money for park maintenance come from just about anywhere else before the park development fund was robbed.

Well, in what we are sure will eventually become a long list of expenses we would have preferred the city cut back on in order to maintain our parks, we begin with Bikes, Babes, and Bling.  $20,000 from the HMR tax was spent for the great festival that wasn’t.  Here’s a video of the festivities:

According to the Fayetteville Flyer, KHBS/KHOG is reporting that the “city” is estimating that the economic impact of the festival was $430,000.  They’re also asking people what their impression of the festival was.  The comments are pretty hilarious.  Read more here.

Updated for clarity.

Some Northwest Arkansas prudes are freaking out about a local woman’s art project.  Jessie Lunderby, a 21 year-old Washington County jailer, posed nude (gasp!) for Playboy.com.  You can see the “scandalous” pictures here (fair warning, they include nudity!).

A few local yokels are up in arms, some saying she should be fired.  KHOG has a video story that you can watch here.  The Dem-Gaz covered the story too, but, alas, did not include any of the art.  And we wonder why print media is dying.

I doubt Fayetteville residents actually care that much about what Jessie does in her spare time.  It’s not like Lunderby locked up a Hispanic woman and forgot about her for four days, leaving her without food, water, or a bathroom.  And it’s not like she was secretly watching inmates undress. She was simply producing art in her spare time.

Still, in the 40/29 story, Sheriff Hoyt made it clear that he is against free artistic expression.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Hoyt said they’re conducting an investigation to determine if Lunderby violated any one of two policies — conduct unbecoming or engaging in off-duty employment in an area that’s sexual in nature.”

“It goes against the very things that let people have confidence in our agency,” said Hoyt. “Subscribers can actually pay money, so somebody’s making money on this and money is changing hands. So it is a business and so we feel that that policy has been violated as well.”

Sexual in nature?  Maybe Hoyt should get his mind out of the gutter.  When I looked at the pictures, I saw beautiful works of art.  I guess to some people, it’s only art if it’s 500 years old and painted by an Italian.  Maybe Jessie should’ve posed with some swans.

Donald Harington died over the weekend. Harington was an amazing novelist and a professor of art at the University of Arkansas. He was also a really cool guy, as many of his students at the U of A will attest to. If I had to recommend one of his books to those unfamiliar with his work, I’d urge you to start with The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks. You won’t be disappointed.

You can view the U of A’s press release here and the New York Times Obituary here.

I’ve been a huge fan of Russellville band Deas Vail since discovering them nearly 2 years ago. The best way to describe them would be this: indie pop-infused rock with soaring and haunting melodies sung by one of the best vocalists in rock. Having seen them three times in concert, I can say that they’re far better live than most bands are in the studio with the benefit of editing, autotune, etc.

As of August 27, their new album “Birds and Cages” is available on Amazon, or Itunes, or through their new record label Mono vs. Stereo (for only $7.00!).

I have to admit, even as much as I loved their first album “All The Houses Look the Same,” I was a little bit nervous last year when they announced that they were recording both a 5-song EP (“White Lights“) and a full-length album, all at the same time. I wondered if maybe they would be stretched too thin.

Boy was I ever wrong. To my ears, it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever bought, let alone in 2009. If anything, they’ve taken their music to a new level. Wes Blaylock (the lead singer) is just as jaw-dropping with his soaring vocal pyrotechnics, and his wife Laura (keyboardist) is featured more often in some quite lovely vocal duos. Andy Moore (guitar) is constantly pushing the envelope with different sounds and effects.

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The tunes are just as full of earworms (i.e., melodic hooks that you can’t get out of your head) as ever, but the music is often adventurous and arresting. “Sunlight” has a progressive rock sound that is hard to place in a single key. The intro to “The Great Physician” has a really nice chord progression that is far different from your traditional I-IV-V. The verses in “Atlantis” are in 5/4 time. “Puzzles and Pieces” is just beautiful — I could easily hear this song featured in one of the many television shows that run out the clock by playing a poignant song while the various characters look pensive.

As another reviewer put it, “Deas Vail is one of the few bands who can take pop/rock music and force the listener to apply ‘beautiful’ to it as an adjective.” If that sounds appealing to you, “Birds and Cages” should be on your purchase list.

Here is the October edition of Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month.  And in case you missed it, you can also check out September’s winner in the second video. We’ll post future editions as they are released.

Tonight at 9 p.m. CST on PBS, viewers can catch the national debut of The Buffalo Flows.  The Buffalo Flows is a film about the Buffalo River written and produced by local UA professor Larry Foley, with photography by Trey Marley, editing by Dale Carpenter, and narration by Ray McKinnon.  It also features music by the UA’s James Greeson.  The film recently won 2 emmy awards.  Here is a clip that features some of the original music and some beautiful pictures of the Buffalo River.

Northwest Arkansas fans of guitars and good music will finally get a chance this weekend to see the new guitar-based documentary “It Might Get Loud.”  From Rotten Tomatoes:

Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar. Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White to influential locations of their pasts.

Alas, the movie is only playing at Fiesta Square in Northwest Arkansas, but I did call them and confirm that they are playing it on one of their larger screens.  And, sorry Stuart, as far as I know George Michael is not in this movie.

And, speaking of movies, anyone watching television last night was rocked off their couch by the newest trailer for 2012. While it doesn’t look like a great movie, the special effects promise that this one will be loud as well. Yikes!