the 941

“Just got paid, Friday night, party hoppin’, feelin’ right…”
With that lame 80’s Johnny Kemp song quote out of the way (later redone by N’Sync - hey-o! Double lame!), if you’re ready to spiff up (or not) and head out, whatcha gonna do? Here are a few options…

Jazz Juvenocracy CD release party for “Strange Noises are Coming From Those Kids Over There”
Fri., May 2nd, 8:00 p.m. at Glenridge Performing Arts Center (7333 Scotland Way, Sarasota, 552-5325), Tix are $5.

These kids are great - enthusiastic, talented, driven and did I mention super stoked to be playing music? Six local players with an average age of “14.3,” they tear into everything from Duke Ellington to The Commodores, but I think they really had me at Tower of Power. They’ll likely charm the pants off of you, too.

I’m informed that all proceeds go toward the band members’ ongoing musical education, and “not the latest video game, no matter how much they whine.” If you can’t catch ‘em tonight, they’ll be at The Bungalow (301 S. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, 365-4430) tomorrow beginning at 7 p.m.

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The following will appear in tomorrow’s edition of CL.

By Joel Rozen.

With the online world of social networking and virtual gaming growing bigger by the day, parents now yearn for an excuse to get their kids out of the computer room and into the real world of exercise and sunshine and making out.
In Sarasota, however, there may now be a chance to meet them halfway.
Last week, county outreach initiative Community Youth Development (CYD) unveiled TheLookUp941.org, a website aimed at providing youngsters with something to do beyond hanging out at the Hollywood 20.
“You can think of it as looking through their eyes to recognize what a positive activity might be,” says CYD director Karen Bogues.
In this case, the positive activity may entail just browsing through the selection. An engaging neon-green and blue interface holds links as well as a sortable database of over 500 county locations, age-appropriate categories and events like Tai Chi classes and Mote Marine adventures. Ultimately, Bogues says, the search engine gives parents a taste of the numerous “out-of-school time” options — and the cyber-obsessed a sense of what they’re missing.
“We knew that was the prime way young people work,” she says. “So we needed something that would be accessible.”
For two years, the former college basketball coach searched for MySpace alternatives — an endeavor that soon proved difficult without some tween input. Contracting 10 high school students last year to collect data online and scout for activities (one offered spelunking, says Bogues, “which would be great if we had caves”), CYD was amazed with the outcome.
“They put things in the database we never would have considered,” she says. “And then they went out and did them.”
While Bogues concedes that the project may still attract more parents than kids at this point, she hopes the future will bring expansion, perhaps through new media, for the younger crowd.
Get your cell phones ready.
“Have you ever heard of 211?” she asks, referencing the dial-up listings guide used by adults to track down babysitters and locate nursing homes. “We’re meeting about that next week.”

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So, they say this is called “free running.” Looks completely, inexplicably insanse to me. Bodies weren’t meant to move like this. At least mine wasn’t.

A longer vid is after the jump � in that one, dude gets chased by a dog. Really.

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Writer Rick got a Nintendo Wii yesterday with a minimum of effort - got in line at 7:30am on Sunday, got a number at 8 (50th in line) went for breakfast, then bought said Wii, with an extra controller and 5 extra games, by 9am.

Forget the extra games, though. In my admittedly limited experience, many of them are retooled ideas for other, less innovative machines. We spent the most time playing the stupid free sports game that came with the thing.

When you bowl, you really bowl. Swing your arm back, then forward, maybe with a little twist at the end to put enough english on the ball to hit the sweet spot in the pocket just right. Tennis? You’ve got backhand and forehand, otherwise it’s all in the timing. Boxing? Three rounds of punching the air can get a little tiring.

90% of the time we were playing the Wii, Rick and I were standing in the middle of his living room, moving our bodies and swinging our arms like two spastics learning to dance. God, it was fun.

Yes, I do thing the Wii is innovative and cool and wildly entertaining. I would gladly pay the $250 for new game play over $600 for P3’s stunning graphics, since those stunning graphics are still tacked on to the same damn games we’ve been playing for years.

After a couple of hours, you do start to realize that most of the elaborate bat-swinging, punching, and overhead smashing can be done with a well-timed flick of the wrist, from the comfort of a cushy chair. It still beats mashing buttons.

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