Author: Jeff Milner

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The Man; The Myth; The Legend

Legend Backmasking Article

Today I was featured in an article in this month’s issue of the Legend (the University of Lethbridge’s official publication). When I first came to the University I remember thinking, someday I’d like to be in the Legend. I wondered what I could do to get in there.

I’ve had a couple of roommates mentioned for their amazing swimming skills, but as my last semester was approaching I began to think it was never going to happen.

My perspective on things certainly has changed with all the media attention I’ve had lately, but it’s still fun to be in the paper and smile as I brag, “Hey, I’ve hit the pinnicle of fame! I’m in the Legend!”

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Swim Meet Announcing

If you’re wondering about how the announcing went… it started out a little rough and got better as the afternoon progressed. I was kind of nervous at first, just speaking into the mic and hearing my voice echo across the pool. The stands were pretty full and there were swimmers and officials all over the deck. I was sitting at a desk up in the stands. I welcomed everyone out and then I said, please stand for the playing of our national anthem.

And then it happened. Probably the most embarrassing thing possible. In my nervousness I didn’t even realize anything was wrong. I could hear my friend Vicki laughing from the pool deck and I had the sinking feeling she was laughing at me. The song played on. Then about 30 to 45 seconds into the song, Vicki walks out where I can see her and yells up to me, “Jeff that’s the American National anthem!” Could my face be any more red?

Apparently when queuing the music I rewound the tape on the wrong side. Now the decision had to be made, do I just play the rest of the song out and have the Canadian National Anthem play after, or do I stop it now and fast forward to the next song? I elected to stop the tape and just announce my mistake, “Oops, that was the American Anthem”. The people of laughed politely at my blunder but I was more worried that the meet would get started late because of my fumbling around with the tape player.

There I was trying to find the Canadian National Anthem on the tape meanwhile everyone else was just standing there, waiting for the music to play. Finally I realized I needed to flip the tape over and rewind it, and once that was on its way I used the moment to announce some of the money winners from the races yesterday.

I have to say, it was really embarrassing but things did pick up after that. I slaughtered quite a few names but by the end of the meet while I was still butchering their names, however, I just did it confidently and quickly so that most people probably didn’t notice hopefully didn’t care.

I’m glad I went; I had a good time. I’ll be doing the announcing for the finals again today.

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Heat Vision and Jack

Jack Black as Jack Austin in Heat Vision and Jack

A couple of years ago I came across a link on Waxy to a TV show pilot titled, “Heat Vision and Jack” produced by Ben stiller and staring Jack Black and Owen Wilson.

Jack Black stars as Jack Austin, an astronaut on the run from NASA after a solar accident makes him the smartest man in the universe. Owen Wilson plays his talking motorcycle. Produced by Stiller, who also appears in the introduction and as a strip club DJ.

It’s a classic in it’s own cheesy way, and now that I’ve found the link, if you’re a fan of Ben Stiller, Jack Black, or Own Wilson, then I think you’d better check out Heat Vision and Jack. (Approximately a 300mb torrent but well worth it)

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Jeff Milner the Announcer

Swimmer doing butterfly strokeThis photo of me was taken at a swim meet here at the U of L a couple years ago, but this weekend the Pronghorns are once again hosting their annual swim meet at the Max Bell Pool. I’ve been asked to do the announcing for the finals on Saturday and Sunday. Go Horns!

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Disney-Pixar Merger Op-Ed Piece in the New York Times

Disney Castle Logo

I came across this great editorial in the New York Times about the Disney-Pixar deal. One thing I’ve learned recently about the deal is that the company is purging itself of most of the middle management that isn’t directly involved in creating the artwork. What they are doing is recreating the old Disney studio from the 1930s when Walt was in charge and story was king.

In the end, Disney is doing something that perhaps no other corporation of this size has ever done: actively de-corporatizing itself. It is reassigning authority from the bureaucracy to a small group of creative individuals. It is, in short, trying to resurrect Walt Disney and his early hands-on management style. Running the company out of his own head was a difficult enough task for Walt Disney himself. Whether the new crew can pull it off is anyone’s guess. But if they do, it will reverse the dynamics of the entire entertainment industry by empowering the putative visionaries over the suits.

Times Article – When You Wish Upon a Merger.

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Moving to Quebec

I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and so today I filled out the application for the Explore program, which means that (assuming I’m accepted) I’ll be moving travelling to Quebec sometime in either the spring or summer for a five week course in beginner’s level French and I’ll be living either in a residence or with a home-stay family. This is the most excited I’ve been about the French I’ve been slowly learning for the past six months.

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Interview with The Hour

The HourMeeting with Yasir Khan and doing the interview for “The Hour” was a lot of fun. The interview will be played during the live airing of the show this Monday, February 6th Tuesday, February 7th at 8:00pm (Eastern) on CBC Newsworld. I’m going to go to Calgary to be a part of the studio audience—I’m looking forward to it.

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Four Things Meme Reaches A-List Bloggers

The other day, my friend Kim Siever hit me with the four things meme. Apparently it started on LiveJournal and has spread across the blogosphere. Some of the bigger sites that I follow on my RSS reader have been participating too.

There is something particularly intriguing about the simplicity of the meme and yet it seems to derive answers that you might never expect. For instance, who would have ever thought that I had experience burying mines? (They weren’t live and they were for de-mining research purposes).

There are many more examples of the meme via google search four things meme.

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Television Interview

I’m going to be doing a television interview this Wednesday which will air during a live taping of CBC Newsworld’s The Hour on either February 6th or 7th.

Update: It looks like it’s going to air on Tuesday at 8:00pm MST on Newsworld.