Ripples #39

Compiled and Edited by Lenny Giteck

You’re a Hottie, Kate – but
Please Curb the Pouting!

A serious controversy has been raging regarding a beautiful woman named Kate – no, not Kate Middleton, wife of British monarch-to-be Prince William, but Kate Upton, latest bikini model to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue.

Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist David Horsey summed up the “kerfuffle” (as he characterized it, using a delightful word one doesn’t hear much these days) this way on latimes.com:

Some among the sleek set in the fashion industry think the 19-year-old, self-promoting model is too chubby to be chic — their definition of hefty encompassing 99% of the nation’s females. The fashion mavens denigrate Upton’s whole look — her too-blond hair, her generic, pouty cheerleader face and her long legs that one critic described as looking as if they belong to a player for the WNBA.

Horsey went on to report that others have been critical of Upton because of her alleged libertine lifestyle, as well as her various romantic entanglements (Kanye West, to name one).

Personally, Ripples thinks that at a time when the nation is busy obsessing about trifling topics such as leadership, taxes, the economy, the price of gas, possible war with Iran and so forth, it is reassuring to know that we as a people have not lost sight of the single greatest issue to face us: excessive pouting in the modeling community.

Americans never shrink from a challenge — and this is one problem we will solve!

Image: To see David Horsey’s cartoon about the Kate Upton controversy, click here.

Photo: To see Kate Upton on the cover of Sports Illustrated, click here.

Daniel Craig Back in Speedo
For Next James Bond Flick

Speaking of showing off your physique in a skimpy swimsuit…

According to the Web site DailyMail.co.uk, Daniel Craig, the most recent actor to portray suave British secret agent James Bond, first converted skeptical “007” fans about his suitability for the role — especially female fans — when photos of him wearing a pair of Speedos were released before the movie “Casino Royale” hit theaters in 2006.

Before those photos were made public, many in Britain had taken to calling the actor “James Bland” — but apparently they were won over by his impressive pecs, traps, delts and lats as revealed in the Speedo shots.

Now history has repeated itself: Producers of the upcoming Bond flick “Skyfall” have released an image of Craig related to the new movie, again in a Speedo. Although the producers put out just one photo — and a back shot at that — Daily Mail gushes, “His back and arms are literally rippling with muscles as he takes a well-earned rest poolside. Daniel’s condition is even more impressive [considering] the fact he is now 43-years-old, relatively old for an action movie star.”

While not much is known about the plot of the upcoming Bond film, the Web site speculates that the photo “certainly invites the exciting prospect that ‘Skyfall’ could feature the sort of underwater action that featured in series classics ‘Thunderball’ and ‘The Spy Who Loved Me.’”

Photos: To see the most recent photo of Daniel Craig plus earlier shots, click here.

Olympic Swimmer Proposes
From the Winners’ Platform

U.S. Olympic swimmer Matt Grevers, who won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the recent Missouri Grand Prix meet, gained something even more valuable when he stood on the winners’ platform: the hand of his girlfriend, Annie Chandler, in marriage.

Chandler, herself a member of the USA national swimming team, was giving the winners their medals when she approached Grevers to congratulate him on his victory — at which point he got down on bended knee and popped the question. To the sound of excited cheering from the crowd and without hesitation, she said yes.

According to usatoday.com, “Grevers’ initial plan had been to ask Chandler…after her 100-meter breaststroke competition, but she finished fifth and left Grevers with even more pressure.”

Video: To watch the big moment, click here and scroll down.

Abandoned Soviet-Era Pool
A Symbol of Afghan Disarray

Afghanistan’s tumultuous recent history is on view for all to see in the many war-scarred installations throughout the capital city of Kabul — including a large, abandoned swimming pool the Soviets constructed on “Swimming Pool Hill” some three decades ago.

“[The pool] was barely ever used by Kabul’s swimmers,” notes nytimes.com, “as the hill became entangled in barbed wire, first a gun placement for the Soviets and then the Taliban, before the whole area was bombarded by Western firepower in the 2001 invasion.” Although the pool reportedly has been restored, it remains empty — both of water and bathers.

NYtimes.com quotes Sir Rodric Braithwaite, a former British ambassador to Moscow and author of a book about the Soviet occupation, as observing: “The Soviets came in believing they could reengineer other people’s societies, releasing Afghans from their medieval backwardness. They didn’t transform Afghan society any more than we are going to.”

Sadly, the truth of his observation was reinforced by the recent killing of more than 40 people — four of them American soldiers — following the inadvertent burning of a number of copies of the Quran by U.S. personnel.

Photos: To see images of the pool, click here.

High School Swim Coach
Not Defeated by Deafness

When it comes to coaching young people, a high school swim teacher in Kentridge, Wash., is not deterred by his inability to hear. A profile on SeattleTimes.com says coach Michael Dobner “interacts with his swimmers in expressive swoops, teaching them how to tweak individual strokes and getting good starts off the blocks. In the process, Dobner teaches them about patience and learning to interact with a disability, all while seeing through that disability.”

In the feature article about Dobner, he insists there’s nothing extraordinary about him. “It doesn’t matter if you’re deaf or if you’re in a wheelchair, it just proves that anybody can do anything,” he is quoted as saying. “You can become a coach, can [be] whatever you want to be. I’m a coach because that’s what I wanted to do, so I made it happen.”

That important life lesson hasn’t been lost on his students. As Malcolm Allen, senior co-captain of the Kentridge High swim team, observes, “It’s inspiring because he does what he does at the same level as other coaches [but] with his disadvantage, and he really just does it all in stride. Nothing really slows him down. He just does what he does.”

To learn more about Coach Dobner, click here.

Until next time, happy watershaping to you!