Wisconsin Badgers Nearly Perfect, Still Can't Win

Bo Ryan's ballclub has never defeated a top four-seed in the NCAA tournament.
Wisconsin played to a level higher than K2, making 14 3-pointers, including a stretch of six in a row in the second half, yet still fell short to the top-seeded Syracuse Orange 64-63 Thursday night.
Credit Ryan and his players for bringing their best to Boston in a tough Sweet 16 matchup.
Nonetheless, the result highlights yet again the Achilles heel of Badger basketball: the team cannot defeat the league's elite, unless just about everything goes in its favor.
Sometimes, like Thursday night, even near perfection isn't enough.
Certainly the long-ball was working for Wisconsin in the game, but akin to underperforming Duke teams of recent past (with the exception of 2010), becoming too reliant on it can be lethal.
Statistics show the father a player is from the basket, the greater the odds are of a miss.
Syracuse weathered Wisconsin's thunderstorm by continuing to drive the basket and creating open looks off the dribble.
The Badgers kept hucking them up from beyond the arc.
Bucky still had an opportunity to win following a missed one-and-one by Syracuse. Senior Jordan Taylor, however, settled for a off-balance deep 3 that barely grazed iron.
Ben Brust tracked down the loose ball and launched a rainbow from the baseline that sailed wide just before the buzzer sounded.
The Orange advance to the Elite Eight to play the winner of Cincinnati and Ohio State.

Hugo: A Movie Review

The movie "Hugo" stars young actors, is family friendly and teaches good values, but it is not intended for kids.
The film lacked the whimsy, adventure and imagination typically lining a flick for preteen audiences.
In fact, there was very little action other than a scene where Hugo and new friend Isabella steal away into a movie theater, and the hero's constant effort to sidestep the station inspector.
Instead, the film focused its lens on itself.
The story follows an orphan clock winder in Paris who steals parts from a train station toymaker in an effort to rebuild an automaton, left to him by his deceased father.
After fixing the mechanical man with the help of the toymaker's goddaughter, Hugo learns that the man who caught him taking parts from his shop used to be a filmmaker.
From there, "Hugo" spends more than an hour investigating and reliving old films.
While romantic to a degree in its original story line and interesting to see old feature films successfully intertwined inside of a modern-day one, "Hugo" is slow-paced propaganda.
Watch the penultimate scene of the movie to understand.
It's almost as though the filmmakers used a child's quest to find closure with his father and a new family to applaud and commemorate the founding fathers of the moving picture.
For history buffs, Wikipedia would have been a faster way to learn about fictitious old-school moviemakers.

2012 Miss Tootsie Pageant

2012 Miss Tootsie Contestants

The city of Wadena, Minn., got a good laugh and helped a good cause Friday night during the third annual Miss Tootsie Pageant. 
Five area men dressed up as women and strutted their stuff in front of a crowded Wadena Memorial Auditorium. 
Organizer Bonnie Kingsley said the pageant was a success and raised about $2,000 for the Miss Wadena Scholarship Fund. 
“I’m very happy that there are gentlemen that will take this on,” Kingsley said. “To come up and put it out there on the stage (and) have fun with it. Really, without them raising the funds for Miss Wadena, we would struggle to keep the scholarship at the same level.”
Horizon Painting and Restoration owner Tom Anderson, known by his stage name as “Anita Moregano,” took home the crown. 
“This is such a great show and we had fun with it,” Anderson said. “Once you get up there, you really have fun. I didn’t do too bad for a homely looking Italian with a good wardrobe, I guess.” 

Tom Anderson with daughter Haley

Anderson joins his daughter Haley Anderson as Wadena royalty. Haley Anderson is the reigning Miss Wadena. 
Tom Anderson says his experience doing the pageant was memorable and a way to say thank you for what the scholarship fund offered his daughter.
“Well I think it just comes around full circle,” Anderson said. “The pageant has given to my daughter and given her a great experience, so I think I wanted to make sure we gave back.” 
In addition to winning Miss Tootsie, Anderson took home the awards for formal wear, onstage question and talent. 
The other men competing in the Gaga Goo-themed pageant were Erik Osberg as “Penny Wise,” George Behl as “Shelita Buffet,” Kevin Ford as “Alicia P. Supright” and Gary Carsten as “Barbie Buttercup.” Carsten won people’s choice and casual wear.
Kingsley says she is already planning next year’s Ms. Tootsie Pageant and has decided it will have a gypsy theme.