Word: amateur
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...Koetsu made ceramics too. In fact, he is seen in Japan as one of the two greatest potters of the 17th century, the other being Nomomura Nisei. But Nisei was a professional, and he specialized in such tea utensils as caddies and incense jars. The amateur Koetsu sometimes worked with potters and sometimes commissioned pieces from them; his approval became a signature of authorship. His passion was tea bowls - the "active," intimately handled objects of a ceremony that, imported from China, had been turned by its first Japanese grandmaster, Sen No Rikyu, into a cultural rite linked to Zen Buddhism...
...Koetsu is one of those artists who elude classifications, even those of his own time and place. He remains the consummate amateur, drawing his authority from the peculiar independence of his work. It's not surprising that there is no one else quite like him in the West, because there was no one else in Japan either...
...Wearing army fatigues and sweats instead of the requisite cleavage bearing tank top, Rodriguez delivers a mesmerizing and fiery performance, not to mention a mean left-hook. As Diana, a troubled teen from Red Hook, a rough Brooklyn neighborhood, Rodriguez finds her salvation in the predominantly male world of amateur boxing. Capitalizing on this world of precise grace and raw aggression, Director Karyn Kusama throws sexual stereotypes and cinematic genres into the ring, creating a match I can't help but cheer loudly for. Audiences at this year's Sundance Film Festival couldn't either; Girlfight is co-winner...
Drugs have so contaminated amateur sport that a radical solution is called for. A modest proposal: Would it make sense to usher in a new era of libertarian athletics - to make everything legal, including anabolic agents, human growth hormones, stimulants, beta-blockers and the rest? The athlete with the best dealer - or best pharmacy - wins? Why not get the narcs out of the Olympics, eliminate the demeaning ambush tests, the sudden preposterous demands for urine samples, and let athletes and coaches govern their behavior, weighing the risks of permanent damage to their bodies against competitive benefits...
...There is such a thing as a professional president. There's no doubt about that," said Madeleine F. Green '67, ACE vice president. "To be a rank amateur and run a billion-dollar enterprise is tough going...