40 THINGS TO DO - THE LIST

In 2010, I'm doing 40 things I've never done in Corpus Christi to determine whether or not people are accurate when they say 'There's nothing to do in Corpus Christi."

Part of this adventure is designed to encourage you to get out there and do more. The list will unfold in advance so that you can do as many things as possible as well.

Here you go.

COMPLETED

January
1. Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival - January 9, 10

February
2. Go to the Homecoming basketball game at TAMUCC info - February 6
3. Listen to some jazz - Riverwalk Jazz at TAMUCC PAC info - February 11
4. Attend a Del Mar drama event info - Secret Rapture - February 27
5. CC Hammerhead's 2010 Home Opener info - February 28

March
6. Fulton Oysterfest info - March 4-7
7. Beethoven in a Bar - Chiara String Quartet at House of Rock info - March 28

April
8. Try 5 New Local Restaurants - They were: La Costenista, January; Takeniwa, April; Julio's, May; Acapulco, August; Enrique's, September
9. Walk across the Harbor Bridge - info - April 4
10. See a touring act - Elton John info - April 6
11. Go to the Botanical Gardens info - April 10
12. Visit the Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures info - April 17
13. Attend a TAMUCC drama event info - Twelfth Night - April 20-25
14. Catch an Independent Film - South Texas Cinematheque screening at Art Museum info - April 30

May
15. Go to the Buc Days parade info - May 1
16. Run in the Beach to Bay info - May 15

June
17. Go to the Southside Farmers' Market info - June 5
18. Go Sailing at the Wednesday night regatta races info - June 9
19. Aransas Pass Shrimporee info - June 11-13

July
20. Go on a self-guided public art tour info - July 11
21. Witness a Turtle Hatchling Release at Padre National Seashore info - July 17

September
22. Go on a Segway Tour - info - September 16
23. Hit a Comedy Club info - September 17
24. Celebration of Flight Hawk Watch & Birding Festival (Go birdwatching) - info - September 24-26
25. Go to the Hurricane Alley Roller Derby info - September 25

October
26. Ice Rays 2010-2011 season Home Opener info - October 1
27. Attend a Corpus Christi Symphony performance info - October 9
28. Catch a local live band that I've never seen
Battle of the Bands Finals at House of Rock in cooperation with Del Mar College - info - October 15
29. 2010 Corpus Christi Paddle Prix & Rally (Go Kayaking) info - October 23

November
30. Greek Festival info - November 5-7
31. Attend the Sparkling City Light Opera info - November 6
32. Attend the Jewish Food Festival info - November 13-14
33. King Ranch Ranch Hand Breakfast info - November 20

December
34. Create an event - Nerf Kids Nerf War - info - December 5
35. Head out to a few watering holes - It's a Wonderful Night Life Pub Crawl - info - December 9
36. Go to a Corpus Christi Ballet Performance - info - December 12
37. Visit the Texas South Wind Vineyard & Winery - info - December 16
38. Take a Trip down Candy Cane Lane - info - December 18

TO DO

December

39. Go Geocaching - info - December 21

And finally
40. Lose 20 Lbs. (develop an overall fitness lifestyle that takes advantage of the city's natural resources and become part of the solution instead of part of the problem

40 THINGS TO DO - THE RULES

In 2010, I'm doing 40 things I've never done* in Corpus Christi to ascertain whether or not people are accurate when they say 'There's nothing to do here."

When I hatched this scheme about mid-December I used the time between then and the new year to refine the rules and create my first pass at a list. 'Why rules?', you ask. Because you guys are going to tear me apart. Why didn't you do this? And why did you think this was good? or Why did you say that wasn't good? You think there's so much to do....there's nothing to do! etc. Don't believe me, go ahead and check out the FB page. Criticism already. So be it. This is important.

So here are my rules for our little adventure.

Rule #1: Try to remain as objective as possible. My goal is not to prove any pre-concieved opinion that there is or isn't much to do. Great cities offer their citizens a robust arts and cultural experience. This effort is more about grading what is out there.

Rule #2: Try to The Things as accessible as possible. This project will hopefully encourage you to get out there and try something new (or a few things). That said, I don't want to fill up the list with $100 items. It makes sense to try surfing or kiteboarding, but lessons for each can get up there quick. Wednesday night sailing sounds fun, but can anyone just show up and do it? There are some tickets and lessons that certainly cost a few pennies, and I will discuss those aspects of the events. Are average citizens not doing those types of things because they're cost-prohibitive?

Rule #3: All new Things*. If I'm using up 40 weekends to learn about the variety of CC's arts and culture, I will rely on my memory for the things I've done. If you haven't done these, though, you should start here: Harbor Playhouse, CC 7-Day Film Project, CC Hooks, Texas State Aquarium, Art Museum of South Texas, etc. All worth your time.

Rule #4: No restaurants. As much as I love B&J's Pizza and Hu-Dat, I'm not counting going to a restaurant as one of my 40 Things to Do for the purposes of this exercise. A Google Maps search for restaurants yields 2,500 listings in CC alone. There's no denying that the restaurant culture of a city is important, but for now I'm leaving them out of this list.

So only 4 Rules. That's not too stingy. Anything I missed?

Next Up: The First List

40 THINGS TO DO IN CORPUS CHRISTI 2010

What makes a 'great' city? When you travel somewhere exceptional, look around, and say to yourself, "This is a great city," what have you seen? What did you experience at this mecca that allows you to believe that?

It's probably different for everybody, but 'the experts' certainly have an opinion. Every year a slew of lists are produced discussing America's Top Places to Live or American's Best Cities.

I found several at the top of a quick google search: US News & World Report, CNN/Money, askmen.com...there are too many to list here.

The most popular and most quoted annual study about the best American cities is Money Magazine's and when you analyze the rest, most other lists have 'borrowed' heavily from Money's criteria. So how does Money Magazine (and essentially every other similar ranking) choose the best cities in America? What are the criteria? What must a city 'have'? They have broken it down into 8 factors. Excel at most or all of these and, theoretically, you're a great city.

FINANCIAL
Including median family income, job growth, etc.

HOUSING
Home Price, Property Taxes, etc.

EDUCATION
Test scores, Access to higher education, etc.

QUALITY OF LIFE
As they describe it: Crime, Commute time, etc.

LEISURE AND CULTURE
Things to do

WEATHER
Rainfall, Temperatures

HEALTH
Body Fat Index, Diabetes rates, Access to health care, etc.

OTHER POPULATION DATA
Median Age, %age that's completed some college, Racial Diversity, etc.

During 2010 I'm sure to discuss each of these from time to time, but my Theme for 2010 (theme?) on the show and in this blog occupies the 5th slot above: Things to do. More important or less important than the other factors? Not sure, but it's what I'm good at, so....shall we?

'There's nothing to do in Corpus Christi.' How many times have you heard that?

On its surface we know that's incorrect. There are bars, movie theaters, restaurants, a beach, a bayfront and quick access to fishing, hunting, and water sports. Everyone knows about The Hooks and most know about the Rayz. There's clearly 'stuff to do'.

So when people say 'there's nothing to do,' what do they mean? There's not as much to do as larger cities? There aren't things that they subjectively like to do? What kinds of things do they want to do that they can't do here? Are they doing the things there are to do?

This new year, I'm going to seek out and do 40 new things. It could have been 52, but that would have been a recipe for failure. So, 40 new things to do talk and write about in attempt to find out clearly what there is to do when you don't limit yourself. I'll be looking for trends. I'll be comparing us to cities larger and smaller than us.

Next up: The Rules and The List.

2009 IN FILM

Time to take a critical look at the movie spreadsheet, come to final decisions and deliver my top ten for 2009.

Before I can begin, here are my usual,pat disclaimers:

Disclaimer #1: I haven't seen all of the critically lauded films. As of today, I haven't seen the following films that could potentially get onto this list. As I see them, the list below will be modified:

A Serious Man
An Education
Broken Embraces
Crazy Heart
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
In The Loop
It's Complicated
Lovely Bones, The
Me and Orson Welles
Nine
Precious
Sherlock Holmes
Summer Hours
The Last Station
The Messenger
The White Ribbon

Disclaimer #2: Of the 189 films I tracked in 2009, 63 appear on the 'I Don't Care if I Never See' List. Alphabetically, the first is Aliens in the Attic and the last is X Games 3D.

Disclaimer #3: Films not on my top ten that appear on a lot of other top tens aka Where's Avatar? Here at the end of the year, many films are eeking their way into mass pop conversation, but, for whatever reason, they're not on my top 10. Maybe you're curious where Avatar, etc. is since they're not on the top 10.

Avatar - For a 29 minute discussion about Avatar, listen to Episode 38 of The Movie Hour podcast. To summarize, Avatar is a beautiful movie that must be seen on the big screen. Cameron dazzles visually and elevates the field of CGI for every CGI-laden film to come. The issue is that since Cameron directed Terminator 1 and 2, and Aliens, no one has more potential to bring smart, groundbreaking action to the screen. Avatar does indeed have some smart, groundbreaking action particularly the final battle scene. When the film steers away from action, and the same holds true with Titanic, it's a mess. The script, the telescoped story, the kum by yah nature nonsense, the over the head political message muddy what should have been a balls out action film.

Up - Up is great. Wall-E, Toy Story 1&2, and The Incredibles are better. Up is disjointed and hodge podge in a way that dilutes it. It is here because people believe a Pixar film should be here every year even if this year's Pixar film doesn't deserve to be.

So all that said, here they are. Joe's top 10 films of 2009:

#10. Food, Inc. - There are two documentaries on my top ten list that should be seen by every American. This is the first. Wonder why America is getting so fat? Remember when super fat was a novelty? Now we've got The Biggest Loser. It's because we are being fed food that is designed (as per our body's chemical make up and ability to digest it) to get us fat. Watch this and change the way you eat forever. Available on DVD now.

#9. Moon - A 'small film' with a large scope. Sam Rockwell is a man alone on the moon harvesting valuable minerals. When his clone arrives, he must figure out what's going on. Is there a conspiracy to kill him or is he just going mad alone in the most isolated place in the world?

#8. Star Trek - The most fun summer action, popcorn film around. No thanks Transformers 2, Angels and Demons, Terminator: Salvation, Wolverine--we reject your mindless nonsense. Like Iron Man last summer, rather, this one happens to be really, really good.

#7. Cove, The - The second doc that 'every American should see'. Half social awareness commentary/half nail-biting heist, you will never (and should never) go to Sea World again after you learn the 'business' of getting bottlenosed dolphins into those tanks.

#6. Adventureland - Tailor made for me, an awkward young man work coming of age in the 80s while navigating the workplace politics of an amusement park. Kristen Stewart CAN be compelling.

#5. Up in the Air - A quiet film about relationships with great performances and dialogue. It's just not that hard to do, Hollywood. Entertainment can be quiet. What elevates this is the constant humor, doled out correctly as our lead's entire life philosophy unravels.

#4. District 9 - What Avatar should have seen before it was released. Aliens, Action, Cutting-Edge Special Effects, Class Struggles, Politial Commentary...with no cheesy distractions or speed-bump effect dialougue clunkers.

#3. It Might Get Loud - If you consider yourself creative (you create something significant or, at the very least, strive to) then run to redbox to rent this film. The concept is simple: get three of the best contemporary guitar players--Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White--together to discuss the electric guitar. What makes it interesting is archival footage of three great bands. What makes it incredible is the subtext: what inspires masters of their field to innovate and create.

#2. Hurt Locker, The - Hey 'Iraq film' filmmakers! When your 'message' is more important than story, script and characters you make a film no one wants to see. Make a film with great characters, script and story that happens to be set in Iraq and the message will flow out naturally and effectively.

#1. Inglourious Basterds - It took a while but it made the top of the list. Viewing #1: a disappointment with all this useless talking and not enough Basterds being basterds. This was a marketing issue. My expectations were just set incorrectly. The opening farm scene and Christoph Waltz's performances are incredible. Viewing #2: OK...the 'too much' dialogue is gorgeous and it's OK if we're not scalping nazis every 30 seconds. That Melanie Laurent and Brad Pitt are pretty good too. Viewing #3: OK...this is a modern classic.

What will Viewing #4 do?

2009 down with a few stragglers coming in, Bring it on, 2010.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here's the obligatory entry touting how I will be changing or doing different things this year.

While I do have some resolutions, the whole concept is too cliche to comment on at this time...

...until Holly Hoffman posted a tweet about creating a theme for the year rather than resolutions that don't last past January 31.

Read Holly's entire blog entry about themes v. resolutions here.

Here are the cliff notes:

Why you need a theme

Specific resolutions may not be the right answer. A theme sets the tone for your year, and gives you a banner to work under. In the end, what is your overall goal? Is it to be fit and healthy, to have good finances, to feel rested? Make it the Year of Finances, or the Year of Fitness, or the Year of Relaxation.

How to pick a theme

Ask yourself these questions:
- What is causing the most problems in my life?
- What is giving me the most chaos?
- What are the most inconvenient things happening?
- What seems to be happening over and over again even though I try not to?
- Where do I see a spike in negative emotion in my daily life?
- What would give me the most peace if I could find a solution for it?

If you’re having trouble picking between two (or three or four…), pick the one that’s solves the most problems.

What happens next…

The amazing thing about having a theme for your year is that it’s about changing your mindset toward a certain area of your life. You’ve decided to change some area of your life that you previously carried an attitude of indifference toward. Lots of things will change.

Of course your theme can fail. The number one reason resolutions fail is because people aren’t committed to them in the first place. If you aren’t committed to your theme, then you won’t move on it.

Move forward with a positive attitude. Remember this is the year you will change your [finances/health/career/love life/insert theme here]!

The great thing is that area of your life will be forever changed, not just temporarily shifted.

Again, read Holly's entire article here.

I will be going through the questions this weekend and coming up with my theme soon.

For the show, 40 events or things to do in CC in 2010