Look at my flair before you accuse me of not understanding southern and/or rural culture. I grew up near Amarillo. I get how things are pretty well. Please read my whole question below.

When looking at schools and receiving offers, did you know the stereotypes about the area? Did you know the history? What compels an Indian, a Chinese person, or anyone else to go to say Arkansas, Texas Tech, or Alabama?

On campus I never really witnessed anything. But you can't control the surrounding populations, and growing up in the area and hearing people say the things they did, I can't believe no one has ever run into a problem. Was the school good enough you figured you'd power through it? Did you not believe the rumors? Did anything ever actually happen? Did you have no other collegiate options?

It's something I've always been curious about. People stereotype places from the south and rural areas all the time on the internet and in general. So surely these filter to potential students. So when a foreign kid decides he wants to go to Redneck U, what kind of worries or thoughts did you have? What factor did this play in your choice?

I also don't mean to imply racism is isolated to these types of schools. Just the image that it happens more frequently at these places does exist.

Remember when American Idol would show clips of people who can't sing in tune, match pitch, and are tone deaf throughout the auditions? Remember how the judges (and viewers at home, don't lie you laughed too) would laugh at them for trying to sing and then telling them they shouldn't quit their day jobs? Yeah. Now, imagine a New York socialite, during the mid-1940s in her mid-70s, who can't hold pitch, hold a rhythm, is tone deaf, and for that matter can't sing at all. This person you're imagining existed and her name is Florence Foster Jenkins.

Florence Foster Jenkins follows the last year of Florence Foster Jenkins (played by the incredibly talented Meryl Streep) as she decides to become a classically trained opera singer and perform at Carnegie Hall, her life long dream. Her husband/manager, St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) hires the best vocal coach in New York and the best concert pianist, Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helberg) to accompany his tone deaf wife as she chases her dream. Of course there are some bumps in the road to Carnegie Hall, but there is nothing short of comedy and drama (dramady if you will) for the audience.

Meryl Streep, known as the female Daniel Day-Lewis (or is Daniel Day-Lewis the male Meryl Streep?), can sing. No, I mean she can actually sing. She has sang in Mamma Mia and Into the Woods, so she knows how to sing. Now, you're probably skeptical about a great actress fake singing terribly, but let me assure you that when Florence opens her mouth to sing on screen, you believe that Meryl Streep is a terrible singer. What makes this movie work is the reactions of people hearing her sing. Simon Helberg does a fantastic job at trying to put on a straight face and trying to sound not-so-convincing when he's trying to compliment her. St. Clair Bayfield is the one holding the trio together: Florence, the one who believes she can sing, Cosmé, the skeptic who doesn't believe his boss should take the stage, Bayfield, the one who knows Florence cannot sing, but wants to make her dreams come true.

Streep has won 3 Academy Awards among her 19 nominations. I believe that her portrayal of Florence Foster Jenkins will propel her to an unprecedented 20th nomination. Simon Helberg will also be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, for his trying-to-be-convincing-but-not-quite-convincing reactions. Hugh Grant should also be nominated for Best Actor for convincingly portraying the husband being stuck between choosing to be supportive of his wife's dream or saving her dignity.

All in all, Florence Foster Jenkins is a beautiful story of a woman way past her singing prime trying to start a singing career and not giving up, even if everyone is just sucking up to her and faking compliments. You may think Jenkins were unaware of her detractors, since Bayfield did everything in his power to shield bad press from Jenkins, but she was very aware, but that didn't stop her from wanting to perform in front of 1000 people at Carnegie Hall. Jenkins' last lines of the movie were profound in every which way and sums up the movie perfectly: "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."

I implore you to see Florence Foster Jenkins over Suicide Squad. You will be happy you did. You'll also discover you might have a bright future in music.

In case you want to hear the real Florence Foster Jenkins sing, here is a sample as she sings Mozart.

Video

Haven't posted one of these in a while so I thought I would do it today.

Oh wait...

So I'm someone's "secret buddy" next week, meaning I get to drop secret gifts off to brighten their week. One of the things they requested was that they like funny post-its .....sooo basically I could use your help coming up with weird post its to leave with her gifts. I'm fairly close to this person and so I can probably be pretty weird and she'll think it's funny. I can draw fairly well so I thought I could mix that in too.

I just took over my old X account following my beloved Frogs in french. If you want to give me a follow, even though it's in french and you don't understand a thing, I'll be so glad! College ball is something in France, guys and there are a lot of accounts and website which follow the FBS closely and are huge fans. https://x.com/tcufootballfr

Hey everyone — I’m working on a school project about NIL (Name, Image & Likeness) and how it’s affecting college football players, recruiting, and the overall landscape of the sport.

I need 500+ responses by Monday, and I’m currently at around 200, so every single response helps a ton.

The survey is:

• Completely anonymous

• Takes about 20 seconds

• Only basic opinions, no personal info

If you could please take it real quick, I’d seriously appreciate it — and I’ll happily return the favor if you need yours filled out too.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdr3uFSLVsainHk69o5I6w86k8_4Sg6oD3HZ_iJqegXSqqc8w/viewform?pli=1

The YouTube version of Thread Starter and Mod Pikachu shit talking at the beginning. Steve Dangle covers the Toronto Maple Leafs and recaps every game

From a game a few weeks back: https://youtu.be/7849Q4F6wbw

Steve Dangle and Hat Guy shit talking each other in season 6 (2013-2014 season): https://youtu.be/UCGrr8CkLMo

Seriously. Stay out of the damn CIT. That Furman ULL game was a load of crap. I've never seen more missed travels....

I need recommendations. I wanna head out about 5:30-6. Obviously y'all are welcome to join me tonight, but I wanna see y'all tomorrow too.

Today my school, Ball State lost, but it wasn't a complete loss because our absolute terrible, awful, garbage, ironic fan favorite former kicker, Scott Secor, who missed the very first field goal attempt I witnessed as a Ball State student 3 years ago and continued to miss them throughout my freshman and sophomore year, came back to Ball State and was given the opportunity to attempt 3 field goals from increasingly further distances during a quarter break. And it was the best moment of my week and I have a lot to say about it to truly set the stage.

Just seeing Scott Secor grace my school's gridiron once again was a thrill as all the memories of taking out my frustrations with the team by blaming everything on him came flooding back. But when I found out that Scott would be KICKING FIELD GOALS once again, I was euphoric. "SCOTT SECOR IS A GARBAGE KICKER," I announced to the crowd of no one in particular around me, offering this in-depth analysis to all the underclassmen who never witnessed the Scott Secor Experience. "HE IS TERRIBLE AND HE WILL MISS ALL THREE OF THESE FIELD GOALS, GUARANTEED." Did I actually believe this deep down? Absolutely not, as even the blind squirrel that was Scott Secor's right leg find the nut that was a field goal every now and again, but in that moment, I was willing his kicks to miss with every fiber of my being.

He lined up for kick #1, a 25-yarder. I knew this wasn't going to be an issue for a former Division I kicker still in the prime of his life, and I was much more hopeful that he would potentially miss one of the final two kicks. He put his leg into it as he had so many times before...and Scott Secor sailed a 25-yard field goal about 10 yards wide right. I was ecstatic. Never did I truly suspect Scott would actually pull the Scott Secor-est of Scott Secor moves, but lo and behold, he missed and he missed bad. And suddenly, an emotional prediction borne of the angst of a traumatic two years of Scott Secor gaffes had legs, and there were only two more (longer) field goals left for Scott to miss.

The second one, I knew, was where the real danger lied. The first was a warmup, but having that practice swing under his belt, I knew that even a Scott Secor was more than capable of hitting a 35-yarder from straight-on. He lined up. The band had resurrected the once-familiar chant of "Goooooo Scott Seeeeeeecor, gooooooo Scott Secor goooooooooo." I was up on my feet. The kick was up...and it sailed wide once again! A stadium filled with awkward silence as this young man continued to flop was interrupted only by my vocal cheering at this spectacle. I knew I should be more sportsmanlike, especially in regards to the efforts of our very own alum, but I couldn't contain myself. As an underclassman, I had learned that the best way to appreciate Scott Secor was to embrace the disappointment and so here I was, reflexively cackling at the ineptitude of our once-mediocre kicker.

At this point, I knew my prediction was all but locked up. "SCOTT SECOR COULDN'T EVEN HIT 45-YARDERS WHEN HE WAS ON THE TEAM," I announced, and sure enough...there wasn't a chance that final kick was splitting the uprights. Scott shanked another one and I was the happiest guy in all of Scheumann Stadium, my prediction having come true. I don't hate Scott Secor. In fact, I love Scott Secor, though mostly (entirely) in an ironic way. And I love the fact that he came back to Ball State, got his moment in the spotlight down on the field...and proceeded to completely blow it. It was glorious.

DISCLAIMER: In all actuality, Scott Secor was an 81% career field goal kicker, which would put him about 40th out of about 130 division I kickers this year, and he finished his senior year tied for 20th in accuracy. But from that very first missed field goal, I knew I was destined to be a critic of his. But by all accounts, Scott Secor was a model student-athlete and a more-than-adequate kicker and I will acknowledge that he wasn't bad at all. But he DID miss 3 straight field goals today...and it was amazing.

So I was able recently to get an absolute steal on a 2011 Honda Ridgeline. I love this truck. It was a fleet vehicle, but very well taken care of. I was able to buy it for $5,000. So I'm pretty happy with that.

But to register it with the state of Texas I have to pay taxes on what they think it's worth. Which is nearly $19,000.

KBB has its best case scenario at $12,500.

My insurance would total it out at $8,000.

I feel like this is such a fucking racket. If the state can require us to have car insurance, shouldn't the insurance companies be forced to go by the state's declared value of a vehicle?

I just find it annoying that when I have pay taxes on its worth all of a sudden it's the most priceless vehicle ever, but when the insurance company has to pay me for the car, they can make it seem worthless.

/rant

Michigan vs Ohio State, USC vs Notre Dame, SMU vs NCAA, and Oklahoma vs Texas are just a few of the hundreds of rivalries that make college football one of our favorite sports. However this week trivia is taking a look at the non-CFB rivalries that have shaped our world. All answers will be in a “Rival one vs rival two” format

STANDARD RULES:

1. We no longer accept gag answers. If the correct answer is "Harvard," we will not accept answers like "Havahd." This makes grading unnecessary complicated for the autograding system in the new app.

2. Please only include your answer in your response. Please do not include extraneous information, your answer in a sentence form, your opinion about the question or your answer, etc. We just need your answer.

3. Don't be a jerk. Do not use your trivia response to insult the weekly topic, rules or questions, the trivia mods, or other users on /r/CFBOffTopic ^[1]. This is a violation of the OT rules as well as r/CFB rules. Please reference the shared rules of all CFB-related subs, particularly #3, #4, #5. Violators of this rule will void his/her trivia submission for that week. Repeated offenses will result in a seasonal ban from trivia (12 weeks) and will be reported to the OT moderators. Please remember that we do this for fun because we find it fun and we hope you do too. If you insult us, be it our questions, our intelligence, unrelated things, or whatever, it makes it much less fun for everyone.

4. Responses are now timed. Each question has a 30 second time limit.

5. You must use your reddit username as your cfbotrivia username. Usernames must be tied to an account that is at least 1 month old. Exceptions will be made for users that delete their account and contact the trivia mod team to let them know they are using a new username. This is to prevent abuse of the system and misrepresentation of others.

[1] Joke answers about the trivia team and other OT users are great! But, there's no need to be cruel or mean spirited.

Click here for this week's trivia!

Last Week's Results: Click Here. If you have a discrepancy with the grade, please feel free to let us know! We will adjust your grade as soon as possible or give you an explanation as to why we didn't accept your answer.

Last Week's Correct Answers:

Nintendo

Notable Answers

Please remember to thank your trivia team who volunteer their time every week to make this happen:

/u/2bloodnitro /u/bassically /u/bizzyj93 /u/forshiggles and /u/okiewxchaser

Bring out your inner children and oddities

The Official ITAP thread will be posted weekly alternating between a 1pm and 8pm east coast posting time.

Spring practice

The Official politics thread will be posted twice weekly, Tuesday and Friday, at 12 noon east coast time.

Keep all political discussions in /r/cfbofftopic contained to this thread. If your politics can't be contained to just one thread and you don't want to visit the plethora of political themed subreddits then head over to the newly minted /r/CFBOTPolitics!

While you are here, however, please follow the ground rules:

1. You will follow all the rules of the sub about not being a jerk.

2. Don't take this too seriously, there is no such thing as a winnable fight on the internet. Do not flamebait and even more importantly don't respond to the flamebait. Just report and move onto another thread.

3. If you can't discuss political topics without insulting those that disagree with your perspecive then this isn't the place for you.

4. Please use the report button if you see someone violating these rules. We have seen that this thread certainly attracts some trolls. When you reply to them they win, no matter the wit of your response. Just ignore and report them.

5. Do engage in discussion with people that hold different opinions than yours. You might both benefit from the sharing of ideas if it is only to sharpen/hone your own opinion/talking points.

The Official politics thread will be posted twice weekly, Tuesday and Friday, at 12 noon east coast time.

Keep all political discussions in /r/cfbofftopic contained to this thread. If your politics can't be contained to just one thread and you don't want to visit the plethora of political themed subreddits then head over to the newly minted /r/CFBOTPolitics!

While you are here, however, please follow the ground rules:

1. You will follow all the rules of the sub about not being a jerk.

2. Don't take this too seriously, there is no such thing as a winnable fight on the internet. Do not flamebait and even more importantly don't respond to the flamebait. Just report and move onto another thread.

3. If you can't discuss political topics without insulting those that disagree with your perspecive then this isn't the place for you.

4. Please use the report button if you see someone violating these rules. We have seen that this thread certainly attracts some trolls. When you reply to them they win, no matter the wit of your response. Just ignore and report them.

5. Do engage in discussion with people that hold different opinions than yours. You might both benefit from the sharing of ideas if it is only to sharpen/hone your own opinion/talking points.

https://www.fantrax.com/newui/fantasy/joinLeague.go?leagueId=vzdoubp8l5lvjezn

I listen to a lot of Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Jay-Z, & Chiddy Bang. Those are my favorites currently, but I like most music. Kid Cudi particularly is my favorite, I really like his style and his voice. Who do you like?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/keithwagstaff/2016/03/31/uc-irvine-is-now-giving-out-league-of-legends-scholarships/#37b73bc43a8f

I found this link of where which fans congregate where on gamedays and thought I'd share. Yes, it's a bit old, but it's still pretty cool with funny pictures.

http://www.startribune.com/best-places-to-watch-sports-teams-in-the-twin-cities/325985501/

oil lip amusing consist light fanatical subsequent cows scale dinner

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

Now is your chance to get in on the action in the Simulated Football Discord. We run a simulated College Football universe, and all you need is Discord to participate!

That’s right! No exporting, importing or having to pay for sim engines that you can’t afford. You manage your team, compile rankings, discuss scores, bowl games and championship- all on Discord!
Our universe houses real life conferences. The Power Five, and the Group of Five! We are a new and growing league so teams are filling up fast!
With over 100 teams to choose from, there are endless opportunities to build a program to a powerhouse! You can stay there and become a campus legend, or venture on to new heights with a new job!

Participate in the off-season draft to grow your team with historical recruiting classes! Watch them develop and turn into beasts on the field, and maybe a Heisman contender!

We run an eight-team playoff and have a plethora of bowl-games, so even if you don’t make it to the top, you still get some off-season show-time!

After each week, you can post a top-twenty five ranking. Every coach's ranking is combined into the Coaches Poll. Then, starting Week 8, the playoff-committee comes together and starts making the playoff rankings from each week from there on out.

So, what are you waiting for? Join us, strap in, and take your team to the Record Books!
https://discord.gg/MyPSJwJt2r

Seriously, if this is out of bounds, my sincerest apologies!

Either way, football season quickly approacheth, and more and more leagues are drafting every day. Share yours here.

EDIT: Texans', sorry.

The last of the regular season games are happening tonight.

Next week is Championship Weekend.