Derek Shook Hawaii

Throwing Down for a Winning Fantasy Football Season

This weekend I again committed several months to the stuff of fantasies—fantasy football, that is.

I started playing fantasy football as a way of keeping up with my husband, the guy who assured me after we married that he only loved one team.

And then there was fantasy football.

Suddenly Derek needed to watch every game because every game had at least one of his players playing. He also went from utter loyalty to one team, to loving that team and really liking a handful of others.

I had no choice but to join the league to keep up with Derek on the weekends.

I wasn’t going to be a football widow. I was also deluded enough to believe Derek would lose interest if I were playing with him—it only spurred him on.

That was several seasons ago.

Since my first season as a fantasy football owner, I’ve come in almost last and almost first. Never hit rock bottom, but I never reached the top, either.

Last year I had a pretty good season despite not placing first. I took the consolation bracket in the first league I joined, and came in second in my husband’s work league.

Of course, last year I finally started using the waiver wire.

When I first began playing fantasy football, I’d allow myself to be guided by sentimentality.

I grew up liking the Miami Dolphins—hey, I grew up in Hawaii, a state without a pro team—so I picked the Dolphins defense. There were several University of Hawaii graduates playing in the pros, so I drafted them as well. After that, I picked on cool names, neat mascots and little more than eenie-meenie-miny-moe.

Once my team was set, I kept them in my starting lineup, only changing out players if they were hurt for the season. I didn’t want to lose them, after all, so I would just bite the bullet during the bye.

(I quickly found out that this, by the way, is a surefire way to be mocked by your fellow fantasy owners.

ultra5280: Pretty Lights at The Fillmore August 12, 2011: Review

Once again Colorado-based producer Derek Vincent Smith, known to most as Pretty Lights, caved the roof of another venue last night to a sold out show at the Fillmore.  His raw talent filled the room with excitement and electro vibes that all were anticipating.  Everyone was already moving from the opening beats of Gramatik, That Supervision, Paul Basic, and his long time friend Michal Menert, so when Pretty Lights came on the crowd was ready to get ‘hyphy’ and rage.  His ten-foot tall cityscape LED platforms allowed for the crowd to get lost in the lights while the serious blows left our ears ringing for hours after. Derek’s remix of Kanye’s “All of the Lights” sent the kids into a frenzy with the punching beats and intense visuals; it was the beginning to a soulful, sweaty evening. Other dope remixes included a chill, “Summer Time” tribute with a Sublime, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince remix of the oh so popular Summer anthem, then finishing with the quirky Mungo Jerry (the guy that sang the catchy, head-bobbing summertime song that makes you want to drink lemonade).  The room was filled with glowing reds and oranges giving the impression we were roasting from the radiant sun, though it was because of Derek’s non-stop, organic beats.  He slowed things down with a slow-tempo remix, of Radiohead’s “Everything In It’s Right Place”, and Nirvana’s “All Apologies”, seamlessly transitioning into “Heart Shaped Box”, and “Idioteque”.  Castro is the biggest Radiohead fan in the world so this song pretty much put him in a sound coma for the rest of the night. To be able to bring the amount of energy single handedly, depending solely on oneself truly shows the natural and cutting-edge talent of Pretty Lights.

Lonely Planet Hawaii, The Big Island

Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii