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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

No Cup, but I Still Hear the Vuvuzelas

So I woke up early today and turned on the television only to realize that it was a day without a game. I hadn't checked the schedule ahead of time and didn't notice the two day break period in tournament play. I was all ready for the quarterfinals yet was left with a feeling of emptiness... well not emptiness but confusion about what to do. For just over two weeks it's been soccer every single day without a break. Sometimes up to four games in a single day. Today was... oddly quiet. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself with no games to watch.

Unfortunately I was also feeling nauseous to my stomach. Was it due to the hole in my soul that was missing the constant blaring of vuvuzelas? Probably. Anyway I was monstrously unprepared with what to do with all that time. I kind of floated around and never got going. Is this how life will be after the end of the World Cup and Argentina are crowned champions?! No. No it won't be. Most likely time will simply stand still for four years and I'll be 30 and watching the cup from the stands of a stadium in Fortaleza or Sao Paolo or Rio de Janiero. I'll watch England bomb, Germany cruise to the semis only to be beaten down, vuvuzela horns be replaced by Brazilian craziness, and everyone bitching about the refs. It's inevitable.

Today I want to talk a bit about one of my recent discoveries. Not really a my discovery but something that was pointed out to me. That is the Angry Video Game Nerd. If you are a fan of gaming, especially classic gaming, then you should really go watch the entire series. I was shown my first AVGN video back in January and was hooked from the first video. The theme of the videos is The Nerd, performing as a character, ranting on about terrible old video games. Usually they are NES games, but Genesis, Atari and Super Nintendo make the cut too. This is relevant to me since those were the popular consoles when I was growing up and I know many of the games he's talking about. His reviews are, simply put, hilarious. His character is as described. He's angry at crappy video games and goes on loud tirades about the failings of old games. His video series is essential to any true gamer. Updates are less frequent lately but he can't be faulted. It's free entertainment so we really can't demand constant updates. Even so there is plenty of content to entertain a person for hours. I hammered out every single video in a two day stretch back in January. He will make you look at games in a new light and demand more from developers so I highly recommend you go check every video out.


After watching AVGN I was, as everybody likely was, tempted to start my own video game vlog series (starring Nigel). I gave up, as everybody likely did, when I realized I'd never be as awesome as JamesNintendoNerd. Plus how could I ever write a theme song half as catchy as his? He had a degree in video production or some shit, I have a degree in journalistic writing. Theoretically I should be able to do something like that, but of course I won't. I started writing some of the stuff up but quit when I realized I have zero follow through (much to my own chagrin). Anybody know where I can find some documentation that will help me learn to use video editing programs? Or anyone want to help me with such a task?

Anyway I'm on another classic gaming kick lately since I've run out of current gen games to play. In particular I'm picking up a few 16-bit RPGs to give another play, some of which I haven't touched in 15 years. Secret of Mana was a game I last played in 4th grade and I've decided to play again. In gave me the idea to do classic game reviews or maybe start up a blog with posts specifically for classic gaming reviews. That'd be a good place to post the videos if I ever end up doing them. Such a blog is decidedly in the maybe pile. If I have the time and motivation and readership then it's possible. Plus if these old games really fire me up while I'm playing them it would be more motivation to do a project like that.

Tomorrow provides no World Cup either so I'll have to come up with something else. Games start back up on Friday with Brazil vs Netherlands and Ghana vs Uruguay. Both promise to be exciting games. Brazil vs Netherlands is a powerhouse showdown. Ghana vs Uruguay is the last game featuring any underdogs (well, I guess Paraguay is an underdog. But I hate them.) so we have somebody to cheer to an unexpected win. Go Ghana!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Vuvuzela of Disappointment

Damnit.

Heartbreak today as Japan crashed out in the Round of 16. They fought so hard against Paraguay and held them 0-0 all the way to the penalty kicks. They looked the stronger side and seemingly dominated on the ball, providing ounces more creativity than the weak South Americans. None of that mattered in the end as it was decided by the roulette wheel of PKs. Japan sent a defender on, one that had never scored in internationals, and he proceeded to miss the critical penalty. The Japanese keeper didn't help by managing to not block a single goal. The look of horror on the faces of the Japanese as the kick clanged off the cross bar was clear. Japan went down to Paraguay despite dominating the match. I felt the strength run out of my body when Fuckface Komano missed. Why that fuck head and not Okazaki?! Why have a defender take the kick when energetic, amazing Okazaki was right over there? Or Nakamura? Or Abe? Or Matsui? Was the coach focusing on his future turnip fields?

There were no interesting upsets to be had in the round of 16. While the group stage had upsets left and right, it was the traditional powers that made their mark in the knockout round. Not that I'm complaining, as I actually like a lot of the teams that progressed. Other than Ghana there aren't really any non-traditional powers in the last eight. It's all about the big boys now.

Spain managed to bully the Portuguese out of the tournament with a 1-0 win off a David Villa shot. That guy is amazing and the fact that he is only now moving to a big team is surprising. Barcelona bound he showed his worth by putting the decisive goal into the net easily to see a desperate and despairing Portugal side out of the tournament. Crybaby Ronaldo barely played a part in this game that turned out to be all about the Spanish. There is no doubt that this side is one of the best in the world and a clear favorite to get to the final. It took the Spanish a while to get into their stride but now that they are on fire it'll take a damn strong performance to beat the team. Next round they come up against the weak Paraguay side that we saw squeeze by Japan. Should be cut and dry for Spain.

The Quarter finals are up next which provide a number of very juicy matchups. Brazil vs Netherlands is my most anticipated match. Both of these teams look unstoppable with perhaps the Netherlands having that slight edge. Spain vs Paraguay should be a no brainer especially with Paraguay looking so feeble against Japan. Uruguay vs Ghana is hard to call. Both teams have done well though I'd give the edge to Ghana for performing up to the pressure. Argentina vs Germany should be amazing. I'm thinking it will be Argentina, but who knows.

See you tomorrow.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Vuvuzela of Energy

The weekend, as I've said before, was extremely busy and I really couldn't find the time to update. I had a late post yesterday and another late one today. It's hard to keep up with blogging when you actually have stuff to do, but I doubt that's going to keep up. Today is a perfect example since it's been entirely about sitting on my ass and doing nothing. So I'll use the time to talk about the weekend.

My best friend got married and I was the best man. I'd said before it was going to happen because I had to give a toast. That actually went over well since I didn't prepare notes. I just shot from the hip and think I nailed it. Audience interaction always pays off well! I actually danced at the thing to a few songs with The Ashes. It was hot as hell in the tux-suit that I had to wear thanks to it being a brilliantly scorching day outside. We put them on hours before the actual ceremony and had to stay in them until after the reception was done. I don't know about the other guys but I left that thing a sweaty, stinky mess for the clothier to clean. I had opportunities to pose for pictures and pull an "1870s Black man no smile" mode, with more intensity.

We watched the United States game before the show and thanks to it going into overtime we had to listen to the extra time on the radio. It was probably the first game we were even able to locate on the radio too. Luckily it was a cheerful occasion or else the crushing defeat to Ghana would have been too much.

Trying to eat a cheeseburger in a tux is hard.

During the ceremony Ashes was on edge for quite a while waiting to hear news from her sister who had been in labor since the night before. All day long she was on edge telling anybody she could find about what was going on. It was the first thing on her mind and when her sister went to have a caesarian-section she was really getting nervous. I think she was worried something might go wrong. But then, just as the reception and tossing of the thingies got underway, she got a picture from her mother of her nephew. She was practically crying. In happiness of course. So she had an even more eventful night than me.

Isn't it odd how stuff like this tends to line up so well? Like in the Back to the Future movies where October 25, 1955 was a temporal vortex so was last Saturday. I knew at least two other people who went to weddings that day too. Coincidences are common though. Or maybe Saturday was a temporal waypoint. Perhaps I'll be back to that day at some point in the future.

World Cup time. It was pretty straight forward today as the big names all moved forward. Netherlands convincingly took down Slovakia 2-1. A last second penalty kick looked to breath life into Slovakia, but the whistle blew immediately and they were unable to build upon it. No upset to be had there. The second game was Brazil's 3-0 domination of Chile. Certainly it was no surprise there, though I thought there would be since Chile showed such great form in the groups. But there was nothing to be had for the slender country as Brazil pimp slapped them back to South America.

Japan tomorrow! BLUE SAMURAI! They've got to have something in there reserves. Paraguay aren't tough and look even with Japan. They can do it. It'll be nervy. Also the big Iberian showdown of Spain v Portugal. Favorites Spain will oust those Portos.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Weekend of Furious Intent

Okay missed a few days which makes me a total brigand. I've had a busy weekend and today is proving to be no less busy or hectic. Don't feel like writing a whole post today. I'll post tomorrow with complete updates of everything that went on.

Quickly run down the World Cup over the last few days.
JULY 27th
GHANA beat United States

Verdict - Total devastation. Sadness and horror. Just couldn't finish them off. Go Ghana.

URUGUAY beat South Korea

Verdict - Unfortunate. Koreans were a stronger team than they showed here.

ARGENTINA beat Mexico

Verdict - Expected. Mexico fought hard but weren't as good. Tevez was brilliant.

GERMANY beat England

Verdict - Disappointing. England are theoretically good but never show it. Stolen goal was a travesty.

That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with an update of the whole weekend and more from the World Cup.

Friday, June 25, 2010

First Round Complete

It's late at night now, well not really. 11:30 or so at night. I'm sitting here fucking around on the internet reading articles, stumbling and watching videos. What I really should be doing is writing my speech for my friend's wedding tomorrow. I'm the best man so it'll be expected that I'll have to give a speech. Kinda sucks. Like I said I should really be writing that but I'm a professional level procrastinator so I'll just whip something up tomorrow. Bring a notepad with me and jot down some notes. From there I'll wing it, which of course I'm terrible at as well as being a very poor public speaker. Who the fuck will honestly care though? I'll just say some utter bullshit at the start, I've flirted with the idea of just recounting the storyline of Back to the Future 3. Like I said I should be doing that. If we're counting the things I should be doing I'd have to devote an entire encyclopaedia size tome to the subject. I should definitely not be sitting here with the Japanese lunacy of Ninja Warrior blaring in my ears as I read articles about movies and think about fun ways to write an end of the world scenario.

Oh and I really do want to write the end of the world! It's the general panic that I always enjoy the most. I was watching War of the Worlds earlier, the 2005 one, and noticed it had some amazing panic scenes. The breakdown of society was far too quick, though, and everything was sort of thrown together odd. Plus the Tim Robin scenes were pretty awful. The creepiness of the flaming train going past the railroad crossing is a striking image that sticks with me. Those moments when the collapse of society occurs are always my favorites. In Shaun of the Dead, which is a straight comedy, the long shot of Simon Pegg's Shaun walking to the store the morning after is breathtaking. Walking along with Shaun through the destruction of London is an experience. What are your favorite scenes of panic in disaster or horror movies? That is if I have any readers.

See I got to talking about that craziness and wasted that time I could've been writing that speech. I think my brother wrote his speech on the way to my other brothers wedding. Nobody puts a lot of stock on the best man's speech, yeah? If I could do the damn thing as Nigel it would be easy as snapping a baby seal's soft skull open with a 6 foot hammer. However, that character isn't well known enough to really get a good reaction. I mean he fucking should be because I think it's one of the most well developed characters I've ever created and has genuine comic value. Of course I might just be a self important asshole. I'm not sure. And I don't care. I'm no comedian.

I promised to talk about E3 but there's no reason to do so. It wasn't a particularly interesting show this year. No big surprises were showcased and the coverage didn't focus on the indie companies off to the side. Instead the coverage all focused on the dozens of shooters that had nothing differentiating them, pointless motion controls focused on a different audience than me, and the 3DS. Okay that last one seems like it'll be pretty awesome. I'm reluctant to accept 3D gaming because I thought it would be too burdensome. Nintendo solved this problem by making a portable 3d gaming system that doesn't require those stupid glasses! That is reason enough to excite me. I've had a history of poo-pooing stuff that I turn out to like in the end. Touch screens seemed foolish to me, but now I get them. The iPad looked like a waste to me, but (aside from a few glaring issues) it has won me over. I scoffed at the idea of an antiquated 1950s gimmick coming back to movies with such force, but again I may be wrong.

World Cup! I haven't talked about it yet. Real short today. Brazil and Portugal drew, like dickheads, which killed Ivory Coast's chances. Granted they had to make up a nine goal differential, which they didn't do in their 3-0 win. So Ivory Coast and North Korea go home and the two Portuguese speaking sides make it into the next round.

The final group saw Spain and Chile move to the knockout round thanks to Switzerland being unable to defeat Honduras. Spain win the group due to their 2-1 win against Chile, which towards the end just became a long game of pass as they wound down the clock. Spain faces Portugal in the battle of the Iberian Peninsula and Chile contend with fellow South American powerhouse Brazil. Both should be great matches.

Today was the final day of the group stage which means the knockout round starts tomorrow! Unfortunately that also means that I have to miss the most important game of the next round because of the wedding! The early game is South Korea vs Uruguay. I'm praying the South Koreans can gain an upset. The later game is the United States vs Ghana and I'm going to miss it. That's fine I'm not to bitter about missing it, I think I give them bad luck with my eyes. So I'm going to try and stay updated during the nuptials and hope for the best. USA can get through Ghana and Uruguay/South Korea. We were handed a dream route to the semifinals and if they perform at their absolute best it is within reach to get far. Our route doesn't put us into confrontation with the big boys until at least the semis, but that doesn't mean the little guys won't stop us in our tracks. GO USA GO!

Tomorrow, huzzah!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

BLUE SAMURAI

Another amazing day of World Cup soccer to talk about with a few major surprises. This tournament gets more exciting the longer it goes on! Gotta hope this keeps up.

Let's start off by talking about the big event of the day, Japan qualifying for the knockout round! It was a match with Denmark that they had to win and they went out there to take the lead 2-0 in short order. It was brilliant form, getting two goals from two separate free kicks. Directly! Nobody saw this performance coming from Japan, nobody! Denmark got one back but Japan answered with an Okazaki goal that gave them a scoreline of 3-1 and the win. This win moved them into the knockout round as second place in the group behind Netherlands. The Blue Samurai showed they had every right to be in this tournament and became the second Asian team to get into the knockouts. I'm loving every second of the Japanese performance as I'm sure their countrymen are as well. They may not make it much further but it's been a tournament of upsets.

Netherlands got the full nine points in the group by finishing up their excellent form after beating Nigeria. It was a good outing by the Dutch and surely they'll be favored for some good results in the next round. They go in top of the group. This group was certainly one of the more exciting thanks to the resurgent Japanese squad. The Dutch, however, were never outgunned and never backed down. This team has the potential to do what no Netherlands side before has. While everybody else is talking about Spain, Brazil and Argentina the Dutch might be able to sneak through.

And then Italy crashed out of the tournament. The Slovakians destroyed the poor aging Italians to send them home in tears as they wiped the floor with them 3-2. The Italians got their fight only in the last 20 or so minutes, something they hadn't shown all tournament. It's a winless campaign for the defending champions and something completely unprecedented. Both finalists from the last tournament are out, which will make for a very exciting knockout stage. Italy showed little of anything special and rightfully crash out. Can't win them all.

The other match in Italy's group was between Paraguay and New Zealand. All New Zealand needed to move on was a win. I say all, but they'd never won a game at this level before. After drawing against Italy they felt like they could do it but Paraguay held their ground and never gave the Kiwis a chance. It was heartbreaking when the final whistle sounded and the score stayed the way it had started, but the New Zealand side will feel they did well to essentially knock the Italians out of the tournament. Two draws is a new record for the team and the draw against Italy was a massive result that killed the champions hopes. Paraguay are looking very good for a traditionally unheralded South American side. From the same continent that is dominated by Argentina and Brazil they are making their own name known and move on to the knockout stage to face Japan. That should be a brilliant match.

That's it for the World Cup today. Netherlands faces Slovakia next round and Paraguay goes up against Japan. Those could all go any which way.

Today's link is ExPat Blog which is a place for expats (foreigners living abroad) to connect and list their blogs. For me what it represents is a way to find anybody living anywhere in the world and reading their slice of life blogs about their location. I've found great blogs from people living all over Asia and Europe, as well as some from a foreign perspective in America. Not everyone at the site has a blog so you really have to dig but there are some real interesting blogs to be found.

Last day of group matches tomorrow. Brazil is through so it's up to Portugal, Ivory Coast, Spain, Chile and Switzerland to decide their fates and find the last three participants in the knockout stages. It'll be fun!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Big Day USA

Huge day for American soccer here. The World Cup really took off with one of the most important goals in Landon Donovan's career as he clinched our place in the next round. Let's start with that game, eh!

United States vs Algeria. It's not a marquee game in many people's minds by any measure. If it weren't for the stage and what was on the line it wouldn't be something anybody talked about. Yet here it was, the game the USA needed to win to clinch advancement and the group. The whole country was watching. I've never experienced an atmosphere that was so interested in soccer, but the performance of this American side is exciting everybody! So the whole world was watching as we fought against the North African side that had held England to a draw. Early on Dempsey hit a goal into the net... that was disallowed! For this to happen a second time was sheer tragedy. The game kept going, of course, and everyone was grumbling about what was sure to be another talking point. That's when, in stoppage time, Landon Donovan booted that Jabulani into Algeria's net and put us ahead 1-o. The match finished two minutes later and we had earned our way into the next round. We damn near lost the match due to a bad call and bad finishing, but we got there in the very end. America is behind this side. Our string of matches, against first Ghana and then either Uruguay or South Korea, can be seen as winnable. This is going to be a damn good tournament.

Our opponents in the next round will be Ghana, a team that beat us in our miserable campaign four years ago. They had a match against Germany in which they only needed to hang on and not give up too many goals. The match was very, very even for the most part. It was a good showing for a German team that had to recover from a loss to Serbia. They did so in convincing fashion by getting a goal against a struggling Ghana squad. This 1-o win meant that Germany won the group and Ghana, with the result of the other group match, came in at second. Ghana are the only African team out of six to make it into the knockout stages and carry the hopes of the continent on their shoulders. Should make the next match very tense for them.

The second match from that group was Serbia vs Australia. Both teams had a chance of getting through, Serbia through a win and Australia through a big win. I didn't watch this game since I was watching Germany and Ghana fight it out, but I saw the goal updates. Australia went up 2-0 at one point and needed only another goal to get ahead of Ghana and qualify, but Serbia crashed their party by scoring late and making the final tally 2-1. The Aussies and Serbians didn't do enough in their match to get ahead of Ghana and went home. Germany's win put them into first in the group and lined them up for a round of sixteen match against the second place team in our group... England! As far as big matches and rivalries go, Germany vs England is a mackdaddy. Surely it has English fans nervous, but they did have a good showing in their match.

England vs Slovenia started off slow and both teams looked unconvincing. England started to dominate the game towards the middle and Jermain Dafoe slammed one home putting England up by one. It was all England could do to hold on for the rest of the match as Slovenia hoped to get a point and second place. Sadly the Balkan country couldn't muster the skill to get around an England team that finally found it's legs. Slovenia, despite looking good in the group, fell below England on points and were eliminated. England came in second to the United States on goal differential which, as I've mentioned, puts them against Group D winners Germany in the next round. If England want to wipe 40 years of failure away there is no better time to start than against Germany. It's as simple as this, if England get past Germany they can win the whole thing. They've got to be considered underdogs which won't help them. It'll be one HELL of a match at least. The biggest match of the next round.

Tomorrow the fates of Japan, Denmark, New Zealand, Cheataly, Slovakia and Paraguay are decided. Hoping for a big showing from the Blue Samurai!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Uh Oh - Minor Incident

I realize that I missed a day and I know it breaks my promise to blog every single day for a month. For most of that day I was without any form of computer and it seemed like the whole world was against me. I spilled water onto my laptop which I thought fried the damn thing as it wouldn't start up and when it did it would do some very funny things, like shut down and flicker. I ended up letting it sit out and dry off, or something, and later in the evening it was back in working order. I also got cookies baked for me! So it wasn't as bad as all that. Also went to find LEGO Minifig blind boxes in stores, but there were none to be found.

The final matches of the group round started today and there were some real nailbiters. In this round both group matches are played at the same time to prevent any ill doings. So in Group A it was South Africa vs France and Uruguay vs Mexico.

Let's talk about the hilarious breakdown of France. There is so much discord and confusion in the French squad at the moment that to any outside observer it's a whole hell of a lot of fun. When you watch a big dog crumble under the pressure it's awesome. From the coach sending their star striker home to the team refusing to train and everything in between it's been great. In this final match South Africa and France were playing for a slim chance to go to the next round. It ended up 2-1 in favor of the South Africa hosts in what must be the biggest win in their nations soccer history. The French team completed a legendary collapse and lost in fine fashion, their coach running off afterwords and refusing to shake the opposition coach's hand. Pure scum that French team.

The result of that match didn't matter, however, as the result of Uruguay and Mexico meant that they both went through. Uruguay won the match to take first place in the group. Mexico lost by only a goal which meant they were level on points with South Africa but had a better goal differential. So Uruguay and Mexico move on to the next round. Tough luck for the hosts to be sure, but they managed to put on a great effort for such a lowly ranked team.

The next two matches were the final Group B matches of Argentina vs Greece and South Korea vs Nigeria. Argentina were all but through already and the real deciding factor was which other country would come through with them. It was a close contest with each of the other three teams at points during the day being in a position to go on. Argentina were able to slice Greece apart in Lionel Messi's first outing as national captain. 2-o was enough to end the Greek dream of marching on in 2010.

The next match was a much tighter affair. Nigeria and South Korea were both extremely determined and wouldn't stop fighting from first to last. The final score was 2-2 but that really doesn't represent how impressive a match this was. The lead kept changing and each team looked amazingly strong in their attacks. Near the end Nigeria were ahead 2-1 which would have been enough to move on despite losing their first two matches. However South Korea managed to put a great goal in the net and evened it up at 2-2. The next 10 minutes were so fiery and passionate that it was hard to believe there were no more goals. Nigeria tried but failed in the end. The draw was all that South Korea needed to make it to the round of sixteen. Awesome match.

Argentina finished top of Group B and South Korea were runners up. So the first two matches of the round of sixteen are set up. It's Uruguay vs South Korea, which is a good situation for South Korea as they feel they must be able to get a win. Argentina vs Mexico is the other game and it's a rematch from a 2006 round of sixteen game. Mexico will hope to get revenge for their loss that day while Argentina will try and prove their supposed dominance. Both will be exciting games.

Tomorrow is the critical day for America against Algeria. MUST FUCKING WIN.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Thunderstorms and Communists

This was the day that I missed my first match of the 2010 World Cup. We went on a ride down to the coast of Maine which is always a nice thing. We ended up getting caught in a huge thunderstorm which was really fun. We went into a store to get some snacks and when we got out it was full on storm mode.

I'm not too worried about missing the game even though it ended up being one of the higher scoring affairs with Brazil beating Ivory Coast 3-1. It was a vital match for Brazil as it put them through to the next round. For Ivory Coast it was heartbreak as they now must wait for Portugal's result against North Korea tomorrow. I honestly thought Ivory Coast had enough in their squad to get decently far in this tournament even with their extremely tough draw. In the end they underperformed and likely won't be moving on. Sadly I'm not sure that any African team will be making it into the next round after many poor performances. Sad times for the continent on it's first hosting duties. When Asia hosted the cup for the first time they had a semi finalist and another round of 16 participant.

The first match of the morning was pretty straight forward. Paraguay faced off against Slovakia and put them down with ease at 2-0. There wasn't very much that the Slovakians were able to accomplish. They never looked particularly threatening to the South American side. Paraguay are enjoying one of their best World Cup runs ever and are likely to make the next round if they manage to take down the Kiwis.

Which brings us to the biggest game of the day. New Zealand vs Italy. A huge gap in terms of quality of players and the national leagues and really just about anything. Italy's national sport is 100% soccer. For New Zealand it's probably rugby, in which they've won the Rugby World Cup back in the 80s. So despite the Kiwis drawing against Slovakia in the opening round this match was certain to be pure destruction. But the Italians were shocked when they gave up a goal early on. They managed to pull their shifty tactics and get a penalty kick which they converted to pull the game to 1-1. After coming back from half time everyone expected the Italians to make up for their early blunder but they just couldn't do it. I was on edge wanting to see that pack of cheaters suffer such a humiliating result. At the final whistle nobody was able to score again and New Zealand got the biggest upset in their history in international soccer. It was a wonderful thing to watch the faces of the Italian fans in utter shock. The big boys are falling down all around the tournament... the European big boys anyway, South American teams are looking frighteningly strong.

Based on early form I expect to see a South American team in the final and maybe even win the thing. European teams are proving to be extremely shaky in this tournament, losing and drawing matches all over the place. I firmly believe that the United States can get to the second round thanks to the horrendous performance by the English squad. All we need to do to move on is to beat Algeria, which is a task our players are certainly capable of doing. Landon Donovan is lethal at the moment and if he maintains this form he'll lead this team to the quarterfinals at least. I'm actually pulling for America in sports, I'm honestly shocked. If there is one thing that these American soccer players don't represent it's the giant ego, self importance and greed of major American sports stars. They do have the heart that is present in all of our favorite historical winners. The miracle on ice was great because they were selfless amateurs. America, as does any smaller team in this tournament, represent a strong team spirit and heart for the wins. It's about the team and sacrificing to do what's best for everyone, not just the individual. Even so one of the most selfish teams in the world, Brazil, is performing strongly. Let's hope America don't have to meet them in the knockout rounds.

Tomorrow sees Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Honduras, North Korea and Chile in action. I'm expecting big things out of Spain after their opening loss.

Today's link is A Blog About History. If you know anything about me then you know I'm a huge history buff. I went so far as to minor in History in college. What that gives me is an inexhaustible insight into human history and the development of the modern world. I'm very passionate and interested in many different aspects and areas of history. So this blog is one I find particularly cool. It really is more about archaeology than it is straight history and it's presented in a way that combines recent discoveries with information it's contemporary time. Any news story that might fly under the radar but pertains to discoveries about history and such can be found here.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Rebirth of Canute: Danish Problems

Today had a lot of action in the World Cup and the first elimination. Cameroon was eliminated when, after two straight losses, it became statistically impossible for their team to progress. Their match threw a kink into Japan's chances to qualify after they lost today. Denmark move up to 3 points and Japan has to win against the Scandinavian team to make it to the knockout stages.

The Cameroon-Denmark match was a real exciting affair. Cameroon top name Samuel Eto'o opened up the scoring with a scorcher past the Danish keeper. It was looking like the African team could possibly pull off the win they desperately needed until Arsenal's Nikolas Bendtner pulled the score back to 1-1. With a draw being enough to stay alive the Cameroonians were fighting with all their strength, winning a shit ton of shots at the goal and nearly going ahead numerous times. With 30 minutes left, however, it was the descendants of the Vikings that trounced African dreams and got another goal to go up 2-1. Fight they did but in the end Cameroon couldn't score again and lost to become statistically eliminated. Heartbreak for the continent I thought would do so well.

The other match in their group was Netherlands vs Japan. The Blue Samurai always have my backing but The Netherlands have historically fielded strong teams that always came up short so I was behind them as well. Oranje vs Blue. It, sadly, wasn't even a real contest. The Dutchmen were quick and outpaced the Japanese all over the field. That aside the Japanese defended well and brought the game into the half at 0-0. Less than 10 minutes after the restart the powerful Dutch forward Wesley Sneijder shot right at Kawashima who couldn't direct it away from the goal. This gave the Dutch a lead they defended to the final whistle. Shinji Okazaki had Japan's best chance near the end of the game though he couldn't get it on target. It wasn't the best showing for Japan who have to follow this match up with a big performance against Denmark. Any result in that match will see Japan move on, so it's all on the line. Commentary fact of the match, Japanese manager Takeshi Okada has stated his desire to quit the national team after the World Cup and become a farmer. Set me to laughing out loud, as the youths say.

The other match was a Group D affair between Australia and Ghana. Disappointing 1-1 result for Ghana who were looking to be the strongest team from Africa. Up against a wall as they head into their final match against Germany and this showing means they will have a huge wall to climb if they want to make the Round of 16. A little luck and a strong showing against a weakened and confused German side may mean they can still go on. Frustrated this entire match and worn down by the Australians we were a bit lucky that Ghana didn't give up another goal. Short write up for this match but there wasn't too much to talk about really. Just have to hope for the best for the young Ghanaian squad.

Alright now it's time for my link of the day. I haven't done this for a few posts simply because I've been so focused on the World Cup. Now that I've remembered it today's link is LiveScore. This site has up to the minute match reports from every major league in the world. Want to know the score in the latest Qatar Star League match, check this site. Want to know how J-League side Omiya Ardija did today, go here. Need to see the latest FA Cup result quickly, this is the place. Their current format is obviously World Cup heavy and features statistics for each game. The format is easy to follow and presents all the vital information up front.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Robbery!

Today was the United States' second game in this World Cup and it was a scorching match! We started off by going two down in the first half and things started to look hopeless for us at the half. Slovenia aren't exactly the greatest team in the world, but I'm going to say they've got a lot of fight in them. After beating Algeria they were clearly motivated and in the first half they showed it by going up two. But this US team is adept at not giving up in this campaign. They fought hard to get back at England in the first game and Landon Donovon started off the comeback with an amazing goal. This turned the tide of the game strongly against Slovenia and Michael Bradley was able to put a great cross into the back to put the game at 2-2. With the game tied and the Americans showing amazing form they pushed forward and managed to get a free kick close to the Slovenian goal.
The next play will no doubt go down as the most controversial of the 2010 World Cup. The free kick was kicked into the goal by Maurice Edu to put the USA up 3-2. However the ref disallowed the goal for a penalty that he wouldn't tell anyone about. To this minute FIFA have still not provided evidence of any wrong doing by Americans. It was pure robbery, and I might even say evidence of a ref bribe. This event was so shocking it made the front page of numerous American newspapers which is huge for soccer. The game ended a 2-2 draw and kept the US alive.

The other game in Group C saw England take on Algeria in what I, and many others, thought would be a big win for the Three Lions. What followed was one of the poorest showings of any major team in the World Cup this year. The Algerians took provided an amazingly strong defense based around the magnificent Nadir Belhadj. He and the Algerian defense shut down every attack that England threw at them. It was astonishing to watch and likely heart breaking for English fans who were looking for redemption after the first game. The game ended 0-0 and meant that Slovenia lead the group followed by the USA, England and Algeria in last. The next round will prove to be the most important as a win for any team will guarantee a place in the next round. The United States will feel they can take Algeria down, and England will pray for a miracle against an in form Slovenia team.

The other match was the early match between Germany and Serbia. This tournament is all over the place in terms of results as the big boy teams are taking some major hits, including this game. Germany were favored after their big four goal win against the Aussies. Serbia were looking worse for wear after losing to Ghana in the first round. That is why the result of this match was so damn surprising. Serbia beat Germany 1-0. It was a hard fought victory that saw Germany lose top striker Miroslav Klose to a red card in the first half, and have a penalty blocked by the Serbian keeper. The Germans weren't bad by any means they just didn't have the finishing that they are so well known for in World Cup play. Serbia have Australia in the next round and will really feel like they can beat them and progress to the next round. Germany take on Ghana in what I believe will be an excellent match, but they'll be favored to win and move on.

So that's the World Cup for today. Tomorrow, more of the same! This tournament is, to the consternation of everybody around me, the focus of all my positive energy at the moment. It's so fun to watch and cheer for these teams and players. I don't want it to end!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Day X

Celtics lost the championship game. Dropped a huge lead to the Lakers.
Twits.

France lost to Mexico! They're all but done! Excellent.

Argentina crushed South Korea. Much sadness. Argentina looked good doing it though.

Greece beat Nigeria which strengthens Korea's chances of going forward, as long as Greece lose the next one and Nigeria lose.

That's all.

Flash post today, eh?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Yeah and It Don't Stop

I said I wasn't going to talk very much about the World Cup today... but I lied.

Why do I feel compelled to talk about the World Cup? It's honestly the most fun I've had in a long time. It dominates every single day, it's my entire morning and "preevning" (for you Big Bang Theory fans) in the most positive way. I'm having a TON of fun watching every single game and checking out the strengths and weaknesses of every team. The passion of the smaller teams snuffing the egos of the big boys. The atmosphere is incredible, unlike any other sporting event in the world. South Africa has the attention of the world which also leads to some interesting stories of the last 20 years since the fall of apartheid. No greater country could have the eye of the world and though their national team is not performing up to snuff the South Africans have everything else on display. It's much too exciting not to talk about.

So the matches today were exciting and emotional. Let's start by looking at the last match of the day, South Africa vs Uruguay. It was a horrifying experience for the host nation as they watched the two time champions walk all over them. Diego Forlan ran the poor Bafana Bafana ragged by scoring two goals, including a penalty that came through a red carded SA goal keeper. Down to ten men the South Africans were unable to stop a third goal against them late in the game while their own supporters streamed out of the stadium. Too bad for the plucky outfit from Jo-burg. Fortunate for Uruguay who looked impressive in their win. Forlan leads the goal count, for now at least. A good showing against Mexico will mean advancement for them. We'll get a better look at Mexico's ability tomorrow against France.

The early game today was Chile defeating a lackluster Honduras. Traditionally the Central American teams never do too well. Honduras didn't seem to have much motivation in this match and were really shown up by a Chilean side that should have put more into the net. The 1-o margin only reflects Chile's inability to get the goals. Not much to say here really. Chile will see some real challenge when they face Switzerland and Spain.

Which brings us to the biggest match of the day. Spain vs Switzerland was a match that everybody thought they had an inside line on. This was supposed to be the most dominant Spain team of all time coming to the world stage and trouncing the opposition. What happened was a surprise to absolutely everybody. Building off the tactics of the United States team that beat Spain in the Confederations Cup last year, Switzerland were able to mastermind a legendary 1-o victory to defeat the European champions. It was a massive upset as Spain were considered a favorite by many experts and analysts. What they didn't consider was that Spain play the same every single time. It's won them 49 of their last 5o matches, but from that one match the Swiss coach brilliantly put together a scheme to drop the giants to their knees and give them a Shining Wizard. Spain will now fall to last place in their group and will really need to pick up their game if they want to get into the knockout round. I'm particularly stunned since David Villa and Fernando Torres are two of the best strikers, and my favorite, in the world.

I'll miss parts of the games tomorrow because I have a damn interview. Luckily I have the ability to record them on my dvr so I can catch them later in the day. Hopefully during the break between the second game and the third game. It'll be France vs Mexico, South Korea vs Argentina in one of my most anticipated matches of the tournament, and Greece vs Nigeria. The match that I'll miss the most of is Argentina vs South Korea featuring my tournament pick and a personal favorite. South Korea is a fun team to watch in all honesty.

I've also started writing a small amount of fantasy fiction so maybe I'll post some snippets up on here. It's nothing too deep, no subtle themes or anything. Just some writing to get my brain into working shape and to write every day. I posted a while ago about ideas and I started realizing that if I didn't turn those ideas into something more, it's just a waste. So I started putting them together into stories. I probably write twice as much in planning than I do in prose but it's a big improvement that I'm writing at all.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Africa a No-No

This morning I noticed something at the New Zealand vs Slovakia game. I noticed that half the seats were empty! At the World Cup! Try convincing a non-believer that this is the biggest sporting event in the world while showing them stadiums that have fewer people than a minor league hockey game. It's not an argument you'll be winning.

The issue here can be the location. Certainly FIFA will deem these games a failure due to the attendance issues. South Africa was, sadly, the wrong location to host the 2010 tournament. I understand that Africa needed to have a World Cup since it was the last continent to accomplish that task and it was only fair. The problem is the state of the continent. The rampant poverty simply means that the tickets won't sell to the home crowd or draw local fans to obscure games. In Germany in 2006 and South Korea and Japan in 2002 the home fans were so excited that they would attend games with weaker sides and fill those seats in. This time it just doesn't seem to be the case. Morocco would've been the better choice of the two possible hosts due to their proximity with Europe. I know the later rounds will be sold out as well as the bigger games, but it's the little games that are the most telling. Watching Japan vs Cameroon, a game that featured an African nation no less, saddened me since the stadium was half empty. I'd say that at New Zealand vs Slovakia there were more empty seats than filled. FIFA can't be happy. You won't be seeing an African hosted World Cup again for a long time.

Now onto today's games.

Today’s round of games started off with the amazingly weak New Zealand team against the European Slovakia side. Usually the Czech Republic is the stronger of the two former Czechoslovakian sides, but this time it was their cousins down the road that qualified. The general consensus was that the Kiwis had absolutely no chance. Their game is rugby and they are good at it, with their All Black team has won quite a few championships. However this soccer team, the awkwardly named All Whites, have seen little success on a world stage. Even regionally they were weak until Australia left the OFC. So what happened today came as a huge upset. Slovakia were ahead for most of the game after putting a goal in the net early on, but in the dying minutes of the game the Whites crossed a ball in front of goal and headed it in for their first goal in a World Cup tournament. The matched ended several minutes later and even though it was a draw New Zealand walked away feeling like a win. For them it really was a win, the first result they ever had. Great moment.

The second match of the day was supposed to be a big one. The Ivory Coast took on Portugal in the first Group of Death match. Both teams were fielding strong teams and Didier Drogba, with a broken elbow, even managed to be on the roster. Unfortunately the match never really got into a groove and there weren’t any goals. It was a match that was full of spirit, though, with the players often getting into each others faces. Pretty boy crybaby Cristiano Ronaldo would flop at the slightest touch, hell even an intense stare would send him to the ground. His antics really started to draw the ire of the Ivorians and eventually the ref had seen enough, pulling a yellow card for Ronaldo’s whining in the most hilarious moment of this tournament so far. It was unfortunate for Ivory Coast who I really thought had the better chances in the match. A 0-0 draw meant they both went to 1 point, and with Brazil set to dominate the rest of the group both countries are feeling a bit nervy.

Brazil vs. North Korea is one of the biggest mismatches in World Cup history. Brazil is ranked 1st while North Korea is way, way down the rankings and has no history of success. That didn't stop the North Korans from going out there and putting on a hell of a show. For the entire first half they played with roughly 397 people on defense, surrounding the selfish Brazilians on every attack. This was the weirdest form of ultra defense I've ever seen in football. Truly a display of a style that I'd never seen used. And for 55 minutes it worked as the North Koreans fought so intense and so rigidly that it looked like they might actually get something out of a game with the world's best. But then the Brazilians scored and tore their opponents confidence apart. They capitulated another goal making it 2-0. Somehow they managed to pull one back but it ended 2-1 and the North Koreans got no points for all their hard work. It was actually a really fun game to watch.

That's it for today in World Cup. Another long boring write up about the games. I promise to be a bit more concise tomorrow and write about something more than the tournament. So expect a short write up about the three games followed by something else. If it's just a month of writing up match reports I'll lose my audience... of three people.

GET ON YOUR BOOTS!

Monday, June 14, 2010

More World Cuppings

So we have another day of solid World Cup action behind us and another of the big contenders made their first showing today. At the same time we had the first day of E3 and a few interesting announcements from both EA and Ubisoft. So there's a lot going on right now in the world and I've got a bit to talk about. Plus I tried to get a job giving food to sick people which is hardly as selfless as it sounds. So a quick recap of the day's events before I bugger off to bed.

The first match of the day was Denmark vs Netherlands in a match that I will freely admit I entirely missed the first half. I stayed up far too late last night in order to wake up at 7 to catch this game. Netherlands are always contenders and this year they have a convincing team so I would've expected to have missed something important in the first half. That proved not to be the case and as soon as I started watching the second half upon waking up I was able to catch the own goal that put Denmark down. These second tier European teams are doing really poor this tournament, except of course Slovenia, and show that just being European isn't enough to do good anymore. The powerful Dutch were able to add another one before the final whistle. According to the commentary team I didn't miss much and all the action happened later on.

The next match of the day was one that I was looking forward to since it involved my favorite Asian nation, Japan. They took on Cameroon in a match that everybody, including myself, believed they stood no chance for a result. Amazingly the Japanese were able to pull a goal ahead thanks to Hasebe and they hung on thanks to some solid defending. Cameroon were the latest African flop in this tournament as they simply crashed against the Japanese. They got some shots but just never turned up the heat on Japan. Thankfully the Asians seem to have worked past their pre-tournament losses and are ready to perform. Being able to take down Cameroon should put them in a good mind for matches against Denmark, which they can win, and Netherlands, which they can't. I'm looking forward to more of the Blue Samurai!

The final game of the day was the defending champions, Cheataly, and South American scrappers Paraguay. The unheralded Paraguay team were major underdogs in this match simply because of the Italian pedigree. The idea of pedigree being enough to win was shattered when Paraguay put a goal in the net and holding their lead going into half time. The Italians were stunned, as they thought they would be awarded the win simply for being Italian. Believe me they really are so delusional. I want no team to lose more than Italy and it looked like I was going to get my wish until nearly the end of the game. Italy pulled back the goal they gave away earlier and brought the score to 1-1. This would be the final score as neither team could do any more. Maybe the Italians got confused and thought they had the one goal and had to defend it even though it was a draw. Fucking Italians...

Alright now moving on to E3. I don't want to spend too much time talking about this today as I didn't see too much special, but a few big points deserve some attention. G4 had some pretty limited coverage today, just showing the big presentations from EA and Ubisoft. Those companies did have a few big games to show off but there wasn't any coverage from the floor of E3 for some reason. I really wanted to see more of the less well known companies and games instead of just the big companies showing games we already know about. That said I did see some stuff I really liked. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood was perhaps my highlight so far. The creator was there to demo the opening (presumably) of the game in which the Borgia family assault Monteregginioni and level the city I spent so much time and money building up. What I thought was a non-interactive video turned out to be gameplay! It was beautiful to watch the chaos of a city collapsing under your feet, buildings falling on your head. It comes out in October and believe me I'll be picking the up these new adventures of Ezio.

Star Ward The Old Republic was shown off by EA. Well it sort of was shown. They had a video that was clearly an FMV (is FMV an archaic term?) and not gameplay. Granted it was a brilliant video, but it didn't do anything to give us any more information about the game. Not that I care because I don't play MMOs. This one has my interest because the games it bases it's lore on were so good. I just want to see more. Fable III was a game I already wanted but after seeing the trailer I am anticipating it all the more. Disappointment may have been the biggest issue with the first two games but I'm going into the third game with far lower expectations and should be satisfied.

Microsoft Kinect, don't care. Not for me. I'm not into motion controls.

That's all for today.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Action from Africa, Los Angelesf

These daily blog posts are becoming my pre-sleep ritual while at the same time the World Cup is becoming my morning ritual. Saving these posts until it's the last thing I do before going to sleep is probably not the best idea I've ever had since I'm not totally motivated to write out longer posts. But I'm writing them and that's what counts.


WORLD CUP
This morning I woke up at 7 a.m. to catch the Slovenia-Algeria game. While I was definitely up for the game it just didn't have the quality or draw of South Korea-Greece and I found myself slipping back to sleep for a majority of the game. Hopefully that won't become something that repeats itself. It's not really too early, it's just that I was struggling to really care for these teams. I was pulling for a draw but Slovenia got a 'lucky' goal that really had me feeling sorry for the Algerian keeper. He really didn't know what that Jabulani ball was going to do and reacted as if it wre a normal ball. Hard luck to him. Sadly this puts Slovenia ahead of England and USA, meaning we MUST beat Slovenia next weekend or our World Cup is over after the second game for the second tournament in a row.

The second game was much better. I got two cups of coffee in me and was much more prepared. My mindset was full on soccer. It was Ghana vs Serbia in a match I really anticipated. I've long thought (well since Drogba's injury) that Ghana will perform the best of any African nation at this tournament. They are unsung heroes and have put together brilliant youth squads, even winning the U20 World Cup last year. So I was firmly behind Ghana and they duly delivered. It was an even match for most of the time and then Serbia made a critical error by fouling Ghana in the box and giving up a penalty and a goal. Ghana are the first African team to win a World Cup game on African soil and I bet they feel real good right now. They're on course to move to the next round for the second time running.

The third game of the day was Germany-Australia and it went much as expected. I never truly thought that Australia had much of a chance given Germany's strength. England-USA had a believable underdog, Germany-Australia certainly didn't. The Socceroos gave up an early goal and it set the pace for them. Germany scored freely for the rest of the game, seeing four seperate players get one in the net. The Aussies best player, Tim Cahill, got a red card that will see him banned for two matches meaning he's done for the tournament. Sad result for Australia, but a damn good showing for the Gerries.

So another day of fine soccer action from South Africa, but tomorrow promises to be even better. Japan are in action against Cameroon and can hopefully make up for their string of awful showings, defending champs Italy get their first run out, and perennial contenders Netherlands are out to trounce Denmark. Can't wait! Not getting any less excited, this stuff is tons of fun.

E3
Tomorrow also marks the first day of the biggest yearly event in video gaming, E3. Though, as I've stated before, I have never had the chance to attend that doesn't mean I don't follow it with great interest. The G4 coverage starts, mercifully, after the final World Cup match of the day so I'll be able to keep tabs on both. I don't really know what is expected to come out of this years event in terms of big stuff, aside from the crappy 360 and PS3 knockoffs of the Wiimote, and I'm genuinely anticipating what surprises are on hand. Here's a short list of some stuff I'm interested in learning more about from E3.

- Uncharted Waters Online - Series hasn't seen a release since the SNES and I want to check out what this is all about.

- Nintendo 3DS - Can't really get my head around 3d gaming without the awkward goggles. Haven't looked into the tech, so I'm interested in how this new system will work. The DS is good, so perhaps this will be too.

- X-Com - Remake of the classic PC series that combines the R&D and strategy. Strategy is removed in place of FPS, but it honestly looks really good based on the trailer. Want to see more.

- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - What sane man didn't find Ezio Auditore di Firenze to be the coolest motherfucker on the planet?! So the lackluster ending to his story, one that didn't even involve him as more than a messenger, didn't do that man justice. This game remedies that and gives us more Ezio. Really want to hear more about it.

- Back to the Future - Just announced recently were the BttF episodic games by the makers of Monkey Island and Sam & Max. I really need to see some solid details on this game as soon as possible because the idea excites me to no end.

- Indy Companies - The little guys often come out with the biggest ideas and we first hear about them every year at E3. These companies are no names, but they are ambitious and exciting. We'll see what these guys come up with.

- Other Games: Fallout New Vegas, Civilization V, Lucha Libre AAA, WWE Online, Fable III, Lufia DS, Warriors Legends of Troy, Victoria 2

I'll update you after the end of the show next week and let you know how much I've learned about these things. Some day I'll be there and be able to write on the fly updates. It's invite only and I don't work anywhere that would warrant an invite... yet. Expect to hear a lot about gaming tomorrow. Expect ruminations about specific games and a grand arc on the state of the industry, genres and companies tomorrow.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

England vs USA and Other Tales

Today was one of the most anticipated days for this World Cup, at least in the Anglosphere. It was England vs United States of America in the final game of the day. The day was absolutely chock full of really exciting games and the big meeting between the two world powers was not a let down. For months since the groups were drawn and the schedule was announced this game has been highly anticipated by every fan in both countries. For the English it was a chance to hammer their dominance home against a supposed weaker competition, for the Americans it was a further chance to prove our growing strength. Before I get to that epic clash I want to discuss the earlier games a bit.

I woke up, as I'm going to do many times in the next month, at 7 a.m. to catch the coverage of the first game of the day. It was a meeting between perennial Asian power South Korea and European underdogs Greece. While this game wouldn't get most people out of bed so early it was actually a game I was really looking forward to seeing. I like Asian football a lot more than most fans. The J-League is exciting, the K-League is solid, the Southeast Asian teams are fun to watch, and the Middle Eastern teams are more fun than their politics. So I root for these Asian teams while everyone else is busy underestimating them. Today it was a particularly pathetic Greek team that took the brunt of the first Asian onslaught. Park Ji-Sung, Man United's hard working midfielder, led his South Korean team to a 2-0 victory over a Greek team that looked like they were belonged in a third division somewhere. Sipping on my coffee I was blasted awake by the chances the Korean team was creating and they just never let up on the poor Euro 2004 champions. I hope Algeria vs Slovenia will be able to wake me up tomorrow like this match did, but I doubt it.

The second game was Lionel Messi vs Nigeria, y'know if you believed the media hype. In reality Argentina took to the field to begin what many people are saying will be a very victorious campaign. They had the better play on the field today and are probably frustrated that they were only able to come away with a single goal despite the chances they created. Messi didn't perform to his full capabilities but he did better than Wayne Rooney certainly. It was a nice 1-0 win to start the group for Argentina. South Korea is on top, followed by Argentina, with Nigeria and then Greece on bottom.

This brings us to the big game, England vs USA. This game meant everything to both sides. The final result left both teams scratching their heads and saying "Could've been worse," while still thinking the next round is a certainty. It ended in a 1-1 draw and honestly it could have gone either way and the draw was a just result. The United States simply wanted to get a result much more than the English. For the English fans I'm sure this draw was akin to a 5138-0 loss, but certainly it's not all that bad. Our American team is underestimated all the time and if you based our chances on the 2006 campaign you're out of your mind. This is a different team with a different coach and a new mindset. We beat Spain a year ago and we stood eye to eye with England and refused to back down. We gave them a game. Clint Dempsey's goal may have been pure bad luck on the part of Robert Green (who will get a hilariously mean nickname from the English fans I'm sure), but the USA deserved it. Gerrard scored after 4 minutes which I really thought was going to set the tone for the match but it didn't. The Americans bounced back and held firm. We got our point in the group and really need to try for a result against the weaker two teams. After the way we stared England down I just can't see Slovenia or the weak Algerians having anything significant to throw at us. But I may be surprised.

That's my World Cup thoughts for the day. More tomorrow, plus maybe my early thoughts on what I hope to see at E3. Maybe.

My link for today is The Bugle. It's not exactly a website or a blog but a link to the homepage of my favorite podcast. Hosted by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman who are both British with excellent accents and tip top humour (with a U!). Check out an episode or two. You can find it on iTunes by searching for The Bugle. Updated almost every week on Friday. This podcast always makes me laugh, and it probably will make you laugh too. Of course it's not fart jokes and funny sounds, but usually pokes fun at world events and dictatorial leaders. If you're intelligent and worldly these guys are for you. Or not.

Friday, June 11, 2010

This Isn't Going to Be Deep

So the world cup finally kicked in today and it was amazing! The spectacle, the energy, the greatest show on Earth. It started off with South Africa and Mexico going even and both gaining a point in their group. South Africa scored the first goal of the tournament in spectacular fashion, but Mexico didn't let them get away with a win. The second match was Uruguay frustrating a poor looking France team and getting a draw. Uruguay fought very hard for their result and really put the French to shame. More World Cup tomorrow and every day for the next month, much to Ashes' dismay.

So that's really all I had to say today, but tomorrow I think I'll write up my blog post about television that I've been meaning to do for a while. So look forward to that.

My link for today is one of my favorite sites on the internet, Cracked.com. I only came across this site a few months ago but it is now an established destination for my browsings. If you go to the article section you can click on just about any article and be guaranteed a shart inducing laughing fit. These articles aren't just dumb humor either, many of these are well researched pieces with a bit of Simpsons-esque observations. If you're as big a fan of MMA and wrestling as I am/was I recommend Seanbaby's article on Kazuyuki Fujita's head. Many of the featured articles are lists which really drew me in. The first night I found Cracked I stayed up until about 4 reading everything back to 2007. You will too if you have the same sense of humor I do. Here's a few gems to check out and get started; MMA oh shit moments, coincidences, and lost books.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

World Cup 2010, Ultimate Edition

It's June 10th and we're just one day away from the biggest event in world sports, the World Cup.


I'll be watching as many of the 64 games this year as I reasonably can before driving everybody around me insane. Despite the slew of big name injuries that have occurred in the last few weeks I remain confident that this is going to be an explosive and exciting tournament. The wait is over and tomorrow the World Cup begins. So I'm going to do a predictions post and show my start to finish predictions. I've had some time to think about it and look at the rosters and here's my last minute predictions.

GROUP A
1. France
2. Mexico
3. South Africa
4. Uruguay
That's right I don't think the hosts will even make it out of the group stage, but I do think they'll one up the Uruguay squad. France for sure and Mexico are always strong.

GROUP B
1. Argentina
2. South Korea
3. Greece
4. Nigeria
Argentina are too damn strong to even drop a single point in this group and will go top with three wins. Korea are always overlooked but play a hardworking team. They've got more to prove than the other two teams.

GROUP C
1. England
2. USA
3. Slovenia
4. Algeria
England are a strong team up front and in the middle and will only really be challenged by the US. The bottom two teams are fairly weak and won't show too much fight I think.

GROUP D
1. Germany
2. Ghana
3. Australia
4. Serbia
Not a weak group by any means so the Germans will be slightly challenged but will definitely get through. Ghana are one of the stronger African sides and will benefit strongly from being on their own continent, enough to just get past the likes of Australia and Serbia.

GROUP E
1. Netherlands
2. Cameroon
3. Denmark
4. Japan
Despite loving Japan and really wanting them to do well, they don't stand a chance based on recent performances. Okazaki aside they've got nothing. Netherlands are so strong they shouldn't lose a single game. Cameroon and Denmark was a toss up as the Danes have a history of upsets, but Cameroon is better and on their own continent.

GROUP F
1. Paraguay
2. Italy
3. Slovakia
4. New Zealand
This group shouldn't be much of a challenge for the Italians, but for some reason I see them slipping up against the Paraguayan squad. They've got enough to get through this round, though. New Zealand are too weak to do anything and I don't expect much from Slovakia.

GROUP G
1. Brazil
2. Portugal
3. Ivory Coast
4. North Korea
The group of death. Before Didier Drogba's injury a few days ago I would've had them going top, but without the figurehead I don't believe they have the fight. He wasn't the whole team, but he was the glue and the gun... or something. So it'll be the two Portuguese speaking sides to go through over the corpse of the unfortunate Kim Jong-il worshipers.

GROUP H
1. Spain
2. Chile
3. Switzerland
4. Honduras
Spain are one of the best teams in the world right now and will score freely against the other three teams. Chile appears to be a good enough squad to get past the Swiss and Hondurans.

ROUND OF 16
France beats South Korea - I don't want it to happen, but it will
England beats Ghana - Home continent advantage falls out from under them here
Netherlands beats Italy - Italians can't contend with Dutch scorers
Brazil beats Chile - Chile aren't in the same league right now
Argentina beats Mexico - Repeat of 2006, Messi messes up Mexico
Germany beats USA - Let's be realistic people
Cameroon beats Paraguay - One last upset for the African continent
Spain beats Portugal - Battle of the Iberian Peninsula ends with Spain's victory

QUARTERFINALS
England beats France - Just barely, maybe on penalties for some redemption
Brazil beats Netherlands - In a free scoring match of the tournament
Argentina beats Germany - The quality of the Argentinians will frustrate Germany
Spain beats Cameroon - It's just inevitable

SEMIFINALS
England beats Brazil - It'll be a hell of a fight for sure, but England have the heart
Argentina beats Spain - Spain's World Cup Curse continues

THIRD PLACE
Spain beats Brazil - The lack of quality backups will be the end of Brazil by this point

FINAL
England beats Argentina

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Lazy Day!

So I didn't realize until far too late that I had neglected to post for the day. I'm disappointed with how hard it is for me to keep up with this daily posting thing. The really important stuff that's going on this month has yet to hit so I'm not in a very excited mood at the moment. Two days from now the World Cup starts and then that's all you'll hear about for a long, long time. Today is going to be a shorter post because I really don't have anything to talk about. I wasn't exactly inspired today, spending most of my time playing RDR and watching television.

I've been pushing these posts right up to the last minute and then past it. I'm at least keeping up with my record of doing a post a day, though. So I'm not fully disappointed in myself. I will say that I'm generally more creative at night so that's when I do a lot of my writing. I don't know if this developed as a habit in college when I used to pull all-nighters in order to finish an article for class or if it's just because I'm a night person. It's my peak of alertness and awareness. I can concentrate much better at night than in the day. While working 6 a.m. shifts, however, I quickly adapted to the life of a morning person. This meant such changes as introducing coffee into my life and going to bed before midnight. I wasn't so creative last summer when this was going on so it's led me to wildly conclude that I'm a night person. Or a procrastinator. Probably the second one.

I've found a couple of "jobs" doing volunteer writing via an online resource and I'm really going to try and push myself to apply. Which means I've got to spend the next couple of days writing up sample articles about video gaming. I refuse to sit on my gnards and let these opportunities pass, especially since I'm not doing jack with most of my time. I've only had a handful of humorously unsuccessful interviews. There's no money involved in these writing jobs but at least it's experience and exposure. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get those samples written up and sent out.

I'm going to recommend Coolvibe as my link of the day. I stumbled (literally) on this website a few weeks ago and it has found it's way into my frequent internet stops. It is a sci-fi and fantasy art blog which features a wide array of styles and topics in what they present. Futuristic cityscapes are mixed in with knights and dragons, but all of the art presented is very high quality. The scenes run the gamut from epic to hyper-epic... just go look at the front page to get a grasp on what this site is all about. Most of this stuff makes for really great backgrounds and can help you shuzch up your desktop. Here are links to some of the better art collections on the site: Pixel art, dark science fiction, and vector art (a personal favorite).

Two days until kickoff in Jo-burg. Hopefully the prawns won't mess up the game. Mexico v South Africa. June 11. 2010. Saturday. Check it.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

President Dole?

I was watching the final episodes of season two of Fringe earlier and realized how much I really love alternate universe fiction. This season of the very well written science fiction show largely revolved around the interactions of the main characters and an alternate universe. Along the way we learn that the son of the mad scientist characters was actually stolen from his counterpart in the other universe after his own son died. It's delightfully complicated but works so well. Fringe is on its way to becoming the spiritual successor of The X-Files, which is something that many shows have failed to do. It's an brilliant show and the performance of John Noble as Walter Bishop is masterful. I highly recommend this show to anyone.

Again, however, I must refer to the idea of alternate universes. Fringe treats us to one of the best established alternate worlds in a visual medium. Looking at a New York where zeppelins fill the sky and the Twin Towers remain standing put my mind into a very happy state. The other world in the show developed in a similar but different way. A map of the United States shows the upper part of Michigan belonging to Canada and the western portion of California under the control of Mexico. The creators of the show also put a lot of effort into showing the little differences in their world. They have a Red Lantern instead of a Green Lantern. The West Wing is going into it's 11th season instead of being off the air for four years. The real kicker is their Back to the Future starred it's original leading man, Eric Stoltz. This alternate New York is really well imagined and alien. It's instantly recognizable as the same culture, but when the main characters jump over to it there is a real feeling of foreignness. This is one of the best examples of alternate reality fiction on television.

The subgenre of alternate reality fiction is really one of my favorites. While it hasn't spawned any true classics in terms of movies, books or graphic novels it has led to the creation of a lot of really fun material. At it's core alternate reality fiction is simply an answer to a 'what if' question. We all think about it at some time or another, "What if Hitler died?" or "What if the South had won?" are popular questions. Taken further and developed into story we get the alternate history genre of fiction. The best thing about this genre is that it is really a lot of fun and there's no definitive way for an author to approach it. History happened how it happened so any posturing about other possibilities is wide open to speculation. That's how great alternate history stories are written. Sometimes the better ones just tell a story in an alternate world keeping the focus on the characters and only revealing details as part of the background. There are stories of hopping between universes and their are stories taking place entirely in the other world as a sort of display to us. It's all good in the end.

Another great thing I've recently discovered is the vast array of maps and flags from alternate worlds available on the internet. On the site AlternateHistory there is an active community of fans devoted to the genre. Most of the stuff they come up with is borderline terrible, but there are a great deal of artists at the site. Of great interest are the maps they create for their worlds and the flags they create for their alternate nations and states. I'll post a few examples when I get back online tomorrow.




The Sidewise Awards are awarded yearly for the best long-form and short-form alternate history fiction. They are the best examples of the genre in the given year. If you look at the site and the past awards for short-form fiction you can usually find a link to the story so it is actually a really good resource for checking out some good stories.

The grand showing of alternate realities that was done in Fringe only further hammered home the genre as one of my favorites. There are endless stories to be told about world's that are nearly ours but different enough to excite us. Hopefully the popularity of Fringe will prove to be a beacon to other attempts at making it to the forefront of the pop culture awareness bubble. Zombies, fantasy epics, and steampunk have all had their booms in popularity and I can only hope that we'll be treated to a new wave of alternate reality literature and media very soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my eyes to the horizon. At the same time I'm also trying to form my own alternate realities through examination of the better works. So maybe I'll be making my entry into the genre someday. We'll see, eh?

Monday, June 7, 2010

Brainstorm - A Word Cooler than the Meaning

I really struggled to come up with an idea for a post today. I'm not short of ideas in general but I couldn't come up with anything that really excited me for today's post. I saved it until the very end of the day which is poor time management on my part.

I spent most of the day screwing around and semi-procrastinating. Or living life. I spent all morning playing co-op on the new Splinter Cell game, which was quite a lot of fun. Then I finally managed to get Red Dead Redemption's multiplayer to work and played that for about two hours.

Later in the evening I've been floating around the internet instead of writing this post. I came across this amazing travel blog. I'm Just Walkin' is an ongoing work by a guy walking from New York to Oregon over the period of seven months. Along the way he takes pictures and tells small stories about his journey. His updates are daily which means there is always new content. In fact I'm reading this blog right alongside typing this and enjoying that so much the more. He captures the stuff that nobody else notices, the stuff that is so ordinary that nobody bothers to look at it. He captures that and it is beautiful in it's way. The dude is awesome so I highly recommend you add this blog to your reading list.

New idea! Daily links. I'm going to recommend a site or blog every day from now on that I think deserves some more attention. Gotta love the flow of ideas or at least you've gotta respect the brief moments of insight and roll with them. So there's something to look forward to in the next month. I won't be recommending these sights for you NOT to check them out. No, that would be excessively dickish of you. If I'm going to point these sites out to you, dear readers, you WILL be checking them out. Because I have that sort of power in my head.

Now onto other matters. Specifically headaches with pictures. That is to say ideas. And idea management I guess. I have no lack for ideas and I really like most of what I come up with. Sometimes they will just come and go without really sparking any real emotion from me, but surprisingly often I'll really get behind an idea. Keep in mind I'm speaking in this particular case about flashes of excitement involving story ideas or some sort of media intensive project, like a short film or something. Sometimes it's an idea for a serious fiction novel, sometimes a topic for a new blog. They've been ideas for vlogs, podcasts, novels and short stories. I love every idea that I come up with like it's a pet. The term pet project really means something when you become emotionally attached to it. Just because I don't have the power to move through these ideas to a completed state doesn't mean that I'm not just as committed these ideas as a published author or popular blogger. They don't go away, either. They sit wherever I've written them down and can be picked up at any point in the future and make me just as interested as the first day I wrote it down.

This sort of stuff is always coming to me and fortunately I now have the clarity of mind to write them down as they're coming to me. Usually this will mean either scribbling the details down in a shoddy overused notepad or opening a notebook document on the computer and frantically typing everything before it's gone.

Sometimes these momentary worlds will be gone before I can immortalize it. And I know they're gone forever. It's like forgetting what you were talking about except much more tragic. I get a deep sense of loss any time I lose an idea. If I feel that way then I know it was a particularly good one. Something I could have at least done something with, if not immediately than down the road or in cooperation with something else. I don't linger on the loss too long because I know something else will trigger a new project. My absent mindedness may hinder me but it also makes me eccentric, which leads to my extreme creativity. Getting a bit cocky now so it's time for me to be calling it a night. Just wait until I follow through with all my grand scheming and plans. It'll be well worth the wait.

I'll try and steer clear of these introspective posts for the rest of the month. There is a big emphasis on this way of thinking right now. Being unemployed really makes you look inside yourself and try and find what is really there. You don't feel good about it at any point. Ask anybody who's lost their job and been unable to find another one for a stretch of time. It involves a great deal of soul searching and probing to find what makes you work and what you are capable of and... I don't know. It's really hard to verbalize but it's something I know that the other unemployed-but-trying folks are going through. I hear it in the voices of my former coworkers who also haven't found a job. I see it in the eyes of the people they interview on television about the "recession". It's a tough time for us so just bear with the shit that comes out of our mouths, kay?

Sunday, June 6, 2010

E3 and a List

I knew a list would make it's way into this month of posting eventually but who knew it would come as early as day two?

With E3 a week away I've got video games on the mind. Two years ago I first came across G4's coverage of the event and got a live look at the show for the first time ever. I've never been able to go to E3, despite now being a freggin journalist (on paper), but I've been following the convention since the days of video game magazines. It used to require waiting until more than a month later when the magazines went to publication that we got the short blurbs about the next year in gaming. Then came the internet... well it was there but it wasn't as big. This meant that I could find out up to hour news and information from the show. Screenshots, previews and videos would flood the web every day. The stories would come too and it sounded like a blast. Of course all we had was pictures and words.

Then I gained access to G4 on Ashes' cable and everything changed. G4 and the X-play crew are live for all five days of E3. It was live at the event, the whole thing was there and I could be there vicariously through their coverage. It was pretty awesome and I was excited about seeing the next year of gaming at the same time as everybody in the press and nearby public. Last year I watched it religiously again and I will in a week. The timing is very unfortunate as it clashes with the world cup. Thankfully G4 repeats their coverage throughout the night. I'll be able to keep up with both the tournament and the game show with ease due to this convenient scheduling, or rather a major lack of programming on G4.

So in anticipation of E3 I bring to you another list. I like video games and I like lists. So hear is the combination of those two things. I bring to you...

THE 5 MOST ADDICTIVE GAMES OF THE LAST 10 YEARS

Dishonorable Mentions - Only get mentions because I didn't get addicted to them, but I recognize how others can get addicted to them.
  • Wii Sports
  • World of Warcraft
  • Farmville
  • DS Pokey-mans
5. Katamari Damacy - Katamari and all of the sequels count here. The first time I popped this insane Japanese gem into my PS2 I was hooked. Wacky music made each level exciting. The uniquely Japanese art style was charming and fun which meant the game didn't take itself too seriously. Speaking of not taking itself too seriously was one of the best characters in any video game, the King of the Cosmos. Just had to keep playing the levels and getting a bigger Katamari! WOO TANGENT!

4. Europa Universalis III - The greatest strategy game of all time and a big improvement for the series. I constantly come back to this game because it's so fun. Every time I play it's like I'm writing my own story while I play.

3. The Sims 1/2/3 - It's the ultimate time waster. This game is really about doing the same mundane shit as in life but occasionally throwing in some aliens, murder, robots, sex scandals and crazy inventions. I hate it, but I keep throwing Sims back on my computer and playing for a day or two before deleting it. Now that it's on Ashes' computer I won't have to put it on mine thankfully.

2. Rock Band & Guitar Hero - Every incarnation of these two series' gets thrown together because as a whole they've wasted so much time. Blasted off for a few years and I couldn't put them down. Always chasing a better score or a perfect play through. Hard to pick it up and not play for hours, which sadly happened too much.

1. Football Manager - Every incarnation of this game I play a billion hours and I always will. The game is the deepest sports game I've ever played. Tens of thousands of players and thousands of teams spread across leagues from every country in the world.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Daily Post One: Daily Reading

What better way to start off my month of nonstop daily posting than to give my reader(s?) a look at what sites I frequent every single day. As a citizen of the modern age and having spent more than half my life as an internet user I've developed a cache of sites that I go to on a daily basis. While I have favored sites there are a select few that make the daily rotation.

Over time, as it will, the sites I visit daily have changed every so often. That is to say that of the sites I used to go to in 2004 are completely different from the ones I visit now. In fact I would think that I don't visit any of the sites I used to five or six years ago. Most became irrelevant or out of date, some died out and others were replaced by newer and superior sites. There is also my changing of tastes to take into account.

So today for a light, quick post I'm going to run down the list of these sites.

YouTube
- I never really got the appeal of Youtube until the very end of last year. I posted about this a couple of months ago. While I never visited Youtube more than a handful of times before it has now become something I check out daily. Vlogs, NJPW, and all of my subscriptions warrant a daily check.

Wikipedia - On most days I would go here looking for some specific tidbit of information or to answer a question. I'm a glutton for knowledge and information though, so I often come here just to study or find out what happened on this day in history. I'm addicted to this website, hardcore.

Kotaku & Joystiq - The two best video game blogs on the internet and my preferred source for all gaming news. Updates constantly throughout the day 24/7 and both of these blogs are very well written and reported. Whether it's up to the minute news or an in depth article about some facet of gaming, both of these blogs are a must in my daily routine.

Google - It's my homepage and it's my e-mail. If I open up my browser I go here which means it's a daily definite.

Livescore - Soccer scores of the day from every league in the entire world. Easiest way to keep up with the European leagues in a soccer neutral country.

io9 - A pop culture, science fiction/fantasy/comics news site. Great place to learn about nerd stuff before anybody else. Part of the same web 'family' as Kotaku and it uses the same layout. Check it out because it's not just nerd news but it sometimes features some well written articles.

Puroresu Representin' & Strong Style Spirit - Japanese wrestling (puroresu) news and results. I check SSS because it has the best NJPW coverage, but PR has the most complete results from all the major and minor indy feds. I still enjoy puroresu and these two sites make it a simple task to keep myself up to speed every day.

Shibuya246 - An fun little site by a guy living in Japan who posts great photo articles. I check it out every day.

Twitter - It's twitter. I use it. I know. Moving on.

That's about it for now. My usual computer, my desktop, is currently undergoing a major viral crisis so I don't have access to my complete bookmark list. Once I manage to fix that situation I'll post a few more of my daily haunts here. I think I have my old links archived on that computer as well so I'll update put those up as well to compare the past with the present.

Globally Ignored