Prolific Parrots

Meeting around tennish…
Luke: Why'd you quit your first coach? You were all in a few months ago. 
Suzie: Ugh. Everything was “Push through it!” or “Champions never quit!” Like, calm down, I just want to play doubles and eat grapes afterward.
Luke: So what changed? You have a new coach now, right? 
Suzie: Yep. Complete opposite. Big, muscular triathlete. Part-time tennis coach, full-time doctor and empathetic legend.
Luke: What typifies an “empathetic triathlete”? 
Suzie: Okay. One day, he found a tiny parrot on the roadside. Just sitting there, all fluff and no clue.
Luke: A parrot? Like “Polly want a cracker” parrot? 
Suzie: Tiny. Blue and green. Big eyes. So he took it back to his room, which is like... practically a closet.
Luke: This muscular man... cradling a parrot in a shoebox? 
Suzie: Better. He fed it with a hospital syringe. One drop at a time!

Luke: And let me guess, they bonded? 
Suzie: Oh, way more than bonded. Turns out it was a she and laid eggs.
Luke: No way. 
Suzie: Way. They hatched. Then those parrots found love. Now he’s got twelve. Twelve birds.
Luke: In that same tiny room? 
Suzie: He bought six cages. Because parrots pair, you know. One per couple.
Luke: Is he single?
Suzie: Ha! Let’s just say he’s emotionally married to his parrot community for now.
Luke: I’d be terrified to drop by and get judged by twelve tiny eyes. 
Suzie: Oh, they absolutely judge. They blink in unison when skeptical.
__________
Voice-over
Coffee over, Luke sensing Suzie’s tennis is going well, to which she replies that she is lobbing better and laughing a lot more. Which, she declares, is a real win.

Japanese Wins Tour de France

July on the Champs-Élysées…
Hiro: Unbelievable! A Japanese winning the Tour de France! On a Japanese bike!
Wataru: Historic! Always been dominated by Western cyclists.
Hiro: Never imagined a Japanese cyclist wearing the yellow jersey.
Wataru: Western sports medicine is so advanced and doping was so well hidden. Look how long Lance Armstrong got away with it.
Hiro: So how did a Japanese cyclist manage to win?
Wataru: I think teamwork was a big factor. The Japanese team were a strong presence in the peloton. Their strategies worked.
__________
Voice-over
Some other factors could contribute: anti-doping regulations getting stricter making for a more even playing field, Japanese physique has been getting stronger, Japanese research into nutrition improving. Japanese are becoming more prominent in a wide range of sports.

But is it tai chi?

Encountering a group of seniors at 7 am in the park...

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Fujiwara: You want to join our group?

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Brendon: I’d like to. Is it tai chi?

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Fujiwara: We start with breathing, then go on to stretches, then to the movements, then to meditation.

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Brendon: And the high fives and chatting?

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Fujiwara: That’s for social interaction. Sometimes we exchange fruit, or news of our activities.

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Brendon: And the songs?

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Fujiwara: That’s what we finish with. To take us back to childhood. To reaffirm our roots. Then we all go home for breakfast.

________________

Voice-over

What a good way to start a day, under the cherries in the park.

And the subscription, only 500 yen per year.

To cover mailing costs. Some of us still live in the postal era.

...

Framing Paralympian Stories

On Paralympic coverage…

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Trischa: It’s discrimination through neglect. The problem is, Paralympic events are not as well attended as Olympic events. And the media channels don’t give as much coverage to Paralympics as Olympics.

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Fritz: Solution?

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Trischa: To persuade the networks to give Paralympics more coverage, to present Paralympian achievements more dramatically.

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Fritz: How do you propose to frame their stories? What’s the narrative structure?

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Victory over adversity is sweet...

Trischa: A linked vignette approach. The cause of the athlete’s disability and the treatment. Feelings of despair followed by the experience or the person who inspired them. Defeats leading to successes.

____________

Voice-over

The frame, or the theme, is triumph over adversity.

The stills and footage, and the athletes’ vignettes, are the visual and vocal framing components.

...

Dumb-bells

Phone rings at the gym...

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Hercule: Can’t talk now. I’m using weights.

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Sol: Ha! Curls or presses?

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Hercule: Bench presses.

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Sol: How many you done? Ten? Ha!

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Hercule: 650 every morning.

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Sol: You have a personal trainer?

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Hercule: Sure. She’s here now. Raisa Shyne. Telling me to get off the phone.

___________

Voice-over

Hercule is improving his upper body muscles to understand the strength needs of wheelchair athletes. He was impressed by a gymnast who was paralyzed waist down after a fall and became a Paralympian tennis sports champion.

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