Happy 86th Birthday to Warren Miller!

{Image via WarrenMiller.net}

Legendary ski film pioneer Warren Miller turns 86 today. Let's hope he's taking his own advice that he's so generously dispensed to us year after year in his movies.

"If you don't do it this year you'll be another year older when you do" -Warren Miller

Freckleface Strawberry

I recently discovered that Julianne Moore, one of my favorite famous redheads has started writing a series of children's books called Freckleface Strawberry. It's about a little girl with red hair and freckles. I'm not a very freckly redhead, but I do have some and I love this idea for a book. As soon as I learned about it I hopped on my library's website to place a hold on it. (Sorry little girls, Madeline needs to blog about this so you'll just have to wait).

{Image via Barnes & Noble}

The book is downright charming. The illustrations, by LeUyen Pham are fabulously retro and capture the personality of the children in the story perfectly. Freckleface Strawberry doesn't quite rival the most established redheaded heroines of children's literature (Anne of Green Gables, Ludwig Von Bemelmans' Madeline, Pippy Longstocking, etc.) but this book is certainly a sweet way to teach children acceptance of themselves and each other.

I also came across this little video of Julianne talking about her inspiration for it:

Happy Friday!

Next week I'll have fewer video posts, including a review of The Social Network. Have a great weekend! Here's some Josh Ritter to get you started:

Underneath it all

Image via ESPN

I first heard the name Alexi Lalas while reading Sports Illustrated for Kids (SI for Kids for those in the know) in 1994 shortly after the World Cup that year. I remember noticing him because of his hair color and he was essentially the only famous soccer player profiled. Back in the day Lalas had long hair and a long beard. He pretty much looked like my uncle Arnold did during grad school in the 70's and I thought this was hilarious. It was the nineties, grunge rockers and old hippies had long hair, not athletes. Looking at this picture now, I can only think about how Lalas was in his 20's during his time in the MLS.

Fast forward more than 15 years to the FIFA World Cup 2010. It is clear that social media has been a friend of this event because you couldn't escape the buzz if you tried, of course why would you? What's not to love about an event that truly brings the world together on (pardon the pun) an even playing field. The winners in this contest aren't determined by GDP or military strength, having the best educational system or strongest tourism industry doesn't score goals. The results come strictly from the most skilled teams with the most heart. On father's day I caught some World Cup coverage and who should be an ESPN analyst? None other than Alexi Lalas, MLS ambassador of the 90's. I heard the announcers say his name before I saw his face, which is a good thing because I likely would not have recognized him otherwise. Behold, the striking man that faced the camera:

image via ESPN

Let us never underestimate the power of a decent haircut.