Synesthesia

Ok its time…

2009-07-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks I got to watch the US Men’s National Team compete in the Confederations Cup in South Africa. As many of you probably know, they started horribly, losing to Brazil and Italy before beating Egypt 3-0 and qualifying for the second round semi-finals, over Italy, based on goals scored. They then shocked everyone and beat Spain 2-0, THEN had Brazil down 2-0 before ultimately losing the finals 3-2. Overall it was quite an exciting tourney and certainly had people talking.

Part I
I was adamant prior to the Spain game that Bob Bradley was not the coach I wanted leading this team to the World Cup next summer. I felt that the loss to Costa Rica and close call in other recent qualifiers, coupled with the first two games of the Con Cup were a clear indication that he could not generate the play needed for the US to compete. Even the win over Egypt did not change my mind…that is a game we should win, and after two losses if the players couldn’t motivate themselves then they all deserved to be cut and replaced!

But the Spain game has forced me to reconsider. Mind you, I’m still not sold, but I’ll spend some extra time watching the Gold Cup this month to make up my mind. The thing about the Spain game was this: Coaches get three opportunities to affect a game – preparation, half-time, and with a substitution. Bob certainly had the team prepared. They came out hard, fast, aggressive, smart, and on form. They forced the Spanish to make mistakes and then capitalized on them; that’s what it takes to beat a better team (make no mistake – Spain is WAY better than the US!). After the half, the team was able to sustain their vigor and keep their composure. They withstood attack after attack early and kept the difficult burden of playing catch-up on Spain.

The biggest problem the US was having at that point was relieving pressure. By that I mean that they were unable to possess the ball in the other team’s half long enough to force them to come back and defend – giving our defenders a moments rest. Every attempt to go forward was rushed, sloppy, and resulted in quick turnovers that themselves became dangerous counter attacks. We needed to hold the ball longer, or at the very least give it back as a deep throw-in or a goal kick. Just as I was beginning to shout at the tv that Bradley put in the best ball handler on his bench, he made a substitution and put in exactly that – a player known for being able to keep the ball and temper the pace.

If you weren’t watching carefully, Benny Feilhaber, after coming on moments before did the opposite of rushing – he held the ball for just a moment extra. In that moment the Spanish defender who was rushing back to mark Landon Donovan ran across the passing lane where he surely would have disrupted the pass had it come earlier. Instead he had no pass to intercept so he kept going, to position himself in the classic goal-side stance…leaving the passing lane clear for Feilhaber to lay the ball wide to Donovan. Donovan curled a cross in behind the defense and the missed clearance opportunity by Ramos teed the ball up for Clint Dempsey to swipe it in the goal. And that was that.

Well done coach. Patience needed, patience added at the right time. The fact that you then got your team up 2-0 on Brazil tells me more than does the fact that they lost that same lead to some of the best players in the world – soccer is just like that sometimes.

Part II
The result of those games has got a lot of folks talking about soccer in the US. So let’s talk about soccer in the US. I hear all sorts of theories, thoughts, complaints, predictions, and criticisms – literally everyday. Well here are some of mine in response:

1. The US will not win the World Cup for at least 25 years.

2. The MLS will never compete nationally (or internationally) with the NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL.

3. I don’t think it needs to in order to be successful.

4. For the US to win the World Cup, the MLS cannot be the home of our national team players – 2/3rds or more of our starters need to play abroad.

5. The purpose of the MLS, in my opinion, is to a) provide continual visibility for the sport in the US; b) motivate young players to develop by providing attainable professional opportunities (thus expanding the pool of quality players at all levels); and most importantly c) train futures coaches with high-level playing experience and acquaintances in foreign pro leagues.

These are all related by the way. The trickle-down of good coaching in 5c leads to the better pool of players in 5b, which increases the quality of play and the visibility of 5a. That same improvement in both coaching and players helps produce the tip-of-the-iceberg players, who then get appropriately noticed by those same better coaches and pointed out to those international acquaintances so that they get to play and develop overseas with much better competition. Those tip-of-the-iceberg players then become 2/3rds of our national team, supported by the best of the MLS players. That’s when we can really compete for a World Cup.

Some could say “we have that now” and that would almost be true. But today, most coaches of 14-18 year old players did not play professionally; coaches of 11-13 year olds did not play in college, and coaches of 3-10 year olds did not even grow up playing or play through high school themselves! While I appreciate their commitment and applaud their effort – and I’m sure many, if not most, of them are doing a great job of teaching and motivating – more experience is more likely to produce better players.

So 25 years means that this generation of MLS players-turned-coach raise the next generation of youth coaches, who raise the next generation on international stars.*

That just leaves 2 and 3. Maybe never is too strong a word…I guess I use it so that people will just get off soccer’s case! Stop rushing it, or expecting it to be something people are not ready for it to be!

Here’s what I’ve learned about sports. Watching any sport requires an appreciation for the details! They all look silly or boring if you don’t understand the little occurrences or decisions that get made or occur in microseconds. And to understand those, you either have to have played the sport on an organized level, or been forced to watch it long enough that you learn those details. It also helps if the version of the sport you are watching is high enough quality to instill some awe at what occurs!

Let’s look at football. Most of us learn the sport by watching as kids because dad puts the game on. We then go out in the yard and play two-hand touch. We learn by playing how tricky it is to time a crossing route so the ball hits their hands, how hard it is to drop the ball just over the receivers shoulder on a deep pass, and how fast and agile you have to be to run and cut by a defender. Then we watch Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith and you HAVE to enjoy what they can do!

With baseball, as kids we study statistics on collector cards and argue about lineups and lefties versus righties and then try to hit a wiffle ball out of the backyard, or at least advance our ghost runners with a single. No wonder when we watch a game we understand the nuance of pitch counts and clean-up hitters and relief pitchers. Without understanding that it’s a slow, plodding, boring game with occasional home runs or a diving catch.

Golf requires you to be able to see differences in the swings of two guys doing the same exact thing, or understand the difficulty of getting a ball to roll 10 feet instead of 9 or 11 feet. Nascar asks that viewers can tell that something huge just ALMOST happened when, after 40 laps that look exactly the same, one guy goes high instead of low in an attempt to pass and is thwarted by another car accelerating to a degree we can’t measure with our eyes.

Soccer too is a game of nuances that take years of watching, or playing, to understand. Why is running all the way downfield with the ball and then passing it 30 yards backwards valuable? (For the same reason Kobe drives to the baseline and then passes back to the point guard.) Why is he not trying to take the ball from that guy who is just standing there? (Because he’s waiting for support, like a running back waiting for a block.) Why did everyone just get so excited about that pass that looks like it was 20 yards off target? (If only his teammate had seen the same opportunity he saw – like when Favre throws long but his receiver cuts a rout short.) He kicked it and missed the goal, so what? (Like home runs never die short on the warning track?)

Think about this…Youth soccer has been widespread in this country for 30, maybe 35 years – that means that this current generation of adults is only the first generation to have a significant population that grew up playing soccer! And very few of us got to watch it on tv as kids. But you know why the Seattle Sounders FC draws 30,000 fans and could sell 5,000 more if they wanted to? Because the state of Washington has one of the largest populations of adult recreational soccer players and people who understand a sport will watch a sport.

So it works. The system that has worked for football and baseball and basketball and every other sport is working. It will continue to work as long as soccer is still played by huge numbers of kids, as long as those kids have opportunities to play their whole lives, and as long as the MLS continues to be entertaining to those who understand it.

Is it working slowly? Yes I’ll concede that it is. I think one reason is that it still has to compete with the incredibly sophisticated marketing and distribution systems of the other sports which include superstars, gear and paraphernalia, constant television and media coverage, parallel video games, and so on. TV directors are experts at producing broadcast that highlight the best of the sports and commentators are creative, knowledgeable and entertaining in their own right! Soccer in this country has little of that. But watch a broadcast from the EPL…their camera angles, close-ups, replays, and commentary are expert and exciting (which is also part of the problem now that those leagues are so available – why watch MLS when the Champions League is on?!). But better broadcasting will come, as will more stars, more jerseys, and more media.

The other reason is probably the most widely discussed, and I concede the point - that soccer is probably just a little bit harder for the un-indoctrinated American sports fan to appreciate. Soccer’s lack of measurable progress means that there is less for these viewers to grasp on to, less to help them understand where things stand in what they are watching. That’s why broadcasts now relay stats like time of possession, the number of corner kicks, shots on goal and fouls, and even things as annoying as the number of turnovers! Soccer is not a game of progressive achievement by one side or the other; its fluidity borders on random and its unpredictability can be a consternation to even its die-hard fans. It requires you to appreciate the attempt more than the achievement maybe a little more than other sports.

But again, the system works. Fans of soccer are the ones who appreciate the game because of that difference, not in spite of it. We are grown over time, not sprung out of a box fully formed. Do I need you to love it? No. Just do me the favor of not hating it so I can enjoy it in peace. Do us all a favor and stop treating every game, success or failure, like the make or break moment for the sport as a whole! And feel free to jump on the bandwagon anytime you want for as long as you want! I’ll be driving in 25 years!

*While a generation is generally 25 years, I think a sports generation is roughly half that…so two generations per 25 years.

Don't call it a comeback

2008-12-29T13:42:00.000-08:00

Wow…it was really time for a new post! May was a long time ago

Let’s see…the summer came and went. Darknight, Indiana Jones and Wall-E were all good. Wall-E was brilliant, as was Jared in his Hollywood debut. Two of my cousins got married at very different, but equally beautiful weddings (combined those counted as my summer vacation). And I bought a pick-up truck. Sweet.

Soccer season came and mostly went (a few post-season games left). The Blue Angels won their 3rd title in 5 years! I’m extremely proud. The Crossfire Strikers took second in their preseason tournament and then finished 4th in their league after a strong closing run – they showed a lot of growth over the season.

The Seahawks' season came and went too with very little excitement. I got to see one win at home, but I missed the big event of the year, the Jets game, due to the horrible weather and driving conditions. I’m a little embarrassed not to have braved it, given that I’m an east coaster, but I just didn’t trust everyone else on the roads even if I was confident in myself. Jared and I did go down to Miami to see Jesse and watch the Seahawks-Miami game (which the hawks lost). That was great! Jesse hooked us up with on-field passes, club seats and a suite visit. His roommate also got us into the Miami Heat game with suite seats and access to the courtside bar, where several Dolphins’ players were relaxing.

I guess the big news of the past year is the 30-35 pounds I’ve lost! My new trainer has been great and she’s taught me a lot about how to exercise and lift effectively. She’s also overseen a major modification to my eating habits and diet. I feel good and look good, but as mom would point out: I’m healthier and that’s what really matters. My routine now includes two mornings with Carissa (trainer) lifting, plus four cardio sessions on my own and a third lifting session on my own as well. That and soccer!

None of this is really the sort of ranting or issue discussions that I intended this site for. Sorry about that. Let me see if I can muster something up. Anything worth talking about happen this past year?

Oh I got one…congrats President Obama!

Jared really gets the credit for this one. He did all the work as a member of the campaign, from the New Hampshire primary all the way up to Election Day (and beyond). The kid worked his butt off across several states and major races. I got to help out a little with about 2 hours worth of door-to-door work in NH.

But the really interesting part for me was attending the local democratic caucus in my district! I’d never been, but it was pretty amazing and I found it really rejuvenating to see the electoral process at work in that way. Basically I wandered into a gymnasium full of people who gathered around tables for each precinct and actually discussed the candidates! It was fascinating. An actual discussion and then we decided how to split up our reps. I got to be an alternate rep, which meant that a few weeks later I went to the regional caucus and got to vote for reps to go to the next level.
Unlike voting, which is an intensely private thing, I really loved the public nature of this. Not because I wanted to know who everyone was voting for, but because it was cool to see so many people participating in the process. I can understand why the voting process fosters apathy…you don’t relate your vote to anyone else or to the outcome – the numbers are too high and too far removed from you. But seeing a couple hundred people take sides, and watching that result turn into specific delegates has meaning, and that is motivating!
Anyway it was pretty cool. And then Obama won and I was happy…along with millions of others around the US and the world (to make a long story short).

Back to Basics

2008-05-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

Lists and movies always seem to center me. Having just seen Ironman I was discussing what my list of the top superhero movies of all time would be. At first it was an easy list, but like most lists it gets harder the more you think about it…

1. The Incredibles: Come on, Pixar has made masterpiece after masterpiece and this is one of their best. Not only is the animation amazing but as usual the characters and story are phenomenal. As a hero movie it tackles some classic themes like public relations, the mental need to be a hero, supervillian/hero dynamics, and the effect on relationships. Even though Mr. incredible is the poster-boy and he propels the story, it’s Helen (Elastigirl) who carries it! I also love the creativity with which the heroes use their powers, both individually and in teams. I really look for this in any hero story! Dash running inside his sister’s force-field bubble to propel them, Elastigirl slinging the manhole cover using the lamppost as leverage, or Mr. Incredible throwing her at the end. And to top it off it’s riddled with classic hero references and jokes like monologueing and power-puns (“you need to be more flexable”). This movie also proves that you can ignore the origin story and still have a good hero movie.
Interestingly a lot of elements should be recognizable to Watchmen fans such as the banning of heroes and cape dangers, to name a few.

2. Superman/Superman 2: Rather than separate sequels I’M going to treat them as a single entity, and yet allow myself to ignore the bad ones! Hey it s my list and thus my rules. But to get back on point, come on, Superman is the classic! It was perfect casting, great effects for the time, good story, and absolutely true to the myth. Reeves WAS superman to all of us after that movie. The first movie had the great origin story as well as a wonderfully creative plot by a superbly executed Lex Luthor played by Gene Hackman. Good humor, and good action considering that no one in the story has the physical ability to compete with Superman. The second movie was a little long on love story, which to be honest we all really wanted to see after so many years of tension (and they played it out well!) but that still didn’t take away from a classic comic-style conflict plot. I mean three criminals from his home world with equal powers and seeking revenge on the son of their nemesis. In the end mind wins over muscle and normality is restored. Both movies stand up to time and myth and they even pulled off the tights with out looking silly! Proof that body armor is not necessary…

3. Unbreakable: This one is gonna surprise a lot of you and I admit it’s a little unorthodox. But still, you have to admit this a classic origin story re-envisioned and updated by M. Night. In fact it’s a dual-origin – hero and villain! Well cast, well acted, well written and directed with interesting visuals, this movie is just good. I love the direct connection the comics that is made through the character of Julius, but I especially love the impact that the unrealized power and desire to help has on the entire Dunn family. It’s got a good emotional draw and even though there is not a clear conflict plot the story still finds a few good ways to show off his powers…and weaknesses.

4. Batman Begins: Batman, like superman is such an established myth that I’ll admit it’s hard for anymovie, or comic to get it right. Especially with all the re-envisioning that’s gone on over the years. However just where all the previous movies failed (imho) this one was awesome! The version presented was clearly built the version defined by Frank Miller and some contemporaries which was satisfying. It combined the modern grittyness with some classic traits can characters. The use of Ras al Ghul and Scarecrow was a nice nod to hardcore fans. While they still went with body armor, I think they justified it well and, well, this was the coolest batmobile ever! (Watch the dvd features – it was real!) Bale finally had the physique, physical skill, and style to pull off both the prince of Gotham and the dark night. With the exception of Holmes as Dawes, all the supporting roles were extremely well cast and executed. Gary Oldman, in particular, seems like an amazing choice for Gordon, but Michael Caine as Alfred seems inspired as well.
Oh, and previews for the sequel look so cool!

5. Spiderman: If I have to stop at a top five it gets really hard, but I have to admit that when it came out Spiderman was…amazing! I liked all the casting, though I know some don’t. To me Spidey was always a bit goofier than some of the other heroes, maybe because I read him as younger than most, and Toby did that well. J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah was as perfect as anyone has ever been in any role!
Mostly I think this was a success because it was essentially a comic book in real time. The look, the coloring, the pace, the dialogue, the action, the plot, and the villain were pure comic book. I bet if you could took stills from the movie and layed them out on paper and it would look like Stan Lee had done it himself. Spiderman hit all is classic poses, used his webs in all the classic ways, and made all the classic jokes. He even wore a mostly spandex suit and looked ok doing it. You can argue about Kirstan Dunst if you want, but she held her own. Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, on the other hand, earned a spot next to Rickman’s Gruber and Oldman’s Zorg, even if its not quite Nicholson’s Joker or DiNero’s Max Cady.

I do have to admit that the new Ironman is arguably deserving of the 5 spot. Its also really well cast and acted, great direction, action and effects, good visuals, and holds true to the comic mythology. I think the love story is successful in that it’s its left undeveloped and relies more on tension than on action. The suit is damn cool! I also loved the humor of this movie…not just Robert Downey Jr’s dialogue, but the whole tone of certain scenes (like when she plucks the magnet from his chest). The scolding of his assistant robots actually made me laugh out loud. Over all this was well executed origin story. I think the only thing that bothered me was the final villain. While Jeff Bridges played him well, I think the timeline of his suit construction and appearance was rushed and threw me off. Still I walked out thinking the movie was everything it should have been.

There’s one other movie I think is worth mentioning and would love to be able to list is my top 5…Mystery Men. This spoof on hero culture and the underground comic genre in particular was so well done that I never get tired of watching it! This film is hilariously funny, creative, unexpected, and yet it hits all the classic hero story highpoints. It is the quintessential genre parody in the same way that Blazing Saddles or Spaceballs are.

And the losers? I think I can list the bottm five and not have to explain why, but tell me if you disagree…Shaquille O’neil’s Steel; Dolph Lundgren’s The Punisher; Billy Zane’s The Phantom; Halle Berry’s Catwoman; Damon Wayans’ Blankman. Nuff said?

Others considered include Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Daredevil, Elektra, Hulk, Sky High, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, The Punisher (Thomas Jane), Superman Returns, X-Men (1, 2, 3), Blade (1, 2, 3), The Crow, The Rocketeer, Flash Gordon; League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Hellboy, Fantastic Four, The Mask, Swamp Thing, Darkman, Spawn, TMNT, Supergirl, Ghost Rider, Zoom, Thunderbirds, and even Underdog.

Whew, I feel so more at ease now!

Catching Up

2008-01-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

Holy frac, how time flies when you’re having fun! It’s been like 8 months since I last posted so I figured I would quick hit a few things…

I bought a new condo just north of my office, in Snohomish. Cute place with 2 bedrooms and a garage which will eventually become a workshop/workout room. Its got a little deck for the grill and a nice sized kitchen. I’ve still got some decorating to do, mostly in terms of hanging pictures, but it’s nice and homey so far.

This past summer I took a great vacation to Alaska with the moms and Jared. We flew into Anchorage and rented a motor home for the week. The trip was motivated by a wedding for Jake Milstein, and old friend, so we first drove down to the Portage Bay Glacier for the wedding - which was on a boat at the base of the glacier.
We then headed farther south to Homer Spit. Jared and I took a half-day fishing trip and caught about 100 pounds of Halibut.
Once the fish was packed and shipped, we drove back up north to Denali National Park. Not only did we luck out and have a great view of the peak as we came in, but we then had the best of luck with wild life, seeing a mother grizzly and 3 cubs about as close to the bus as they could get without coming inside! Slightly farther off were Moose, Mountain goats, and a couple of wolves. On the second day we took a hike near the visitor center for what we expected would be a wildlife-free excursion…until we walked smack into a mother moose and two kids! We were able to spend a good amount of time watching them from close range as they ate and frolicked around a small lake.
No big blow-ups considering the four of us were locked together in an RV for a week!
Some photos are posted here: http://groups.msn.com/JonathanStuff/alaska.msnw

Fall, once again, was soccer season. The Blue Angels were back in full swing having moved up to the gold division following last years silver championship. I also took a Crossfire Select team for the first time – a group of 10 year-old girls hand selected from hundreds of candidates! Ok, so not really ‘hundreds’…but hand selected none the less!
The Angels finished up with a regular season record of 7-3 and a 4th place finish. Amazingly they won the majority of their games with less then 11 players. They are about to kick-off their indoor season.
The Strikers, as we named ourselves, struggled a little in terms of their won/loss record, but still made a lot of progress throughout the season and finished with some really strong games.

No one wants to hear about work so I’ll skip that.

The Seahawks provided some memorable events this fall as I took advantage of my season tickets. I got to see the beat up on the Bengals and Bears, beat San Francisco on a Monday night, Virtually clinch the division by beating Arizona, and win another home playoff game by beating Washington! The only disappointment was having to see them lay and egg against New Orleans…but hey, at least I got to see Reggie Bush. No Superbowl – maybe next year.

This past Christmas was dominated by discussions on the nature of gift giving/receiving, expectations, and budgets. Basically…remember that family guy scene of the three wise men walking to go see the baby jesus; one turns to another and asks “so what did you get?” “Gold” he replies. “GOLD! You got GOLD! I thought we agreed on a limit! We got him Frankincense and Myrrh over here!” …that about sums it up. We also got to see Peter’s film in an actual movie theatre thanks to mom and grandma. It’s awesome! Hopefully it will be in enough festivals that people can see it. Keep an eye out: Crenshaw Nights.

Interesting how I can sum up 8 month in basically 5 paragraphs.

Famous again!

2007-05-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Looks like my uniform fetish has finally paid off…I made it on ESPN.com in a recurring page2 article called Uni-watch – one of my favorites! Check it out

About 2/3s of the way down is the Follow-Up Roundup where responses to previous articles are posted.

Warning: Spoilers

2007-05-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

I just watched 4 movies I’d not seen before and I’m not sure I could have picked 4 any more different!

The first was Eragon. Let me sum up the sequence of events in this movie:

Once upon a time long ago, the land was protected by a group of magical warriors who were eventually wiped out when one of their own betrayed and killed them all in his quest for power.
Many years later, a rebellious princess steals something that could destroy the evil king and though she is captured during her flight, is able to send it to a young farm boy living with his uncle. The farm boy then learns that he has the same magical powers as the former warriors, and after his family is killed and their farm burned, sets off with the one remaining old warrior who attempts to train him.

In the process of rescuing the princess from the lair of the evil wizard the old warrior dies and the farm boy teams up with a seemingly untrustworthy rogue (who later proves himself by assisting in the final battle against the evil army). The trio flees to the hideout of the rebels but is tracked by the evil army bent on destroying them.

In a final battle, the young farm boy proves he has what it takes to be a warrior when (armed with a magic sword, by the way) he helps the rebels defeat the attackers!

I’ve never read any of the books, but forgive me if this plotline sounds vaguely familiar. As a camp counselor I used to tell kids the story of Star Wars as a fairytale with wizards, rogues, and warriors just to see how long it took for them to catch on to what I was doing - to bad I never added a dragon! I could have made...wait, how much money did this series make? I especially loved it when the evil sorcerer/warrior killed his captain for failing to find the farm boy, and then promoted the next guy standing there! Very Vader-like.

All in all, worth watching if it comes on cable, but don’t pay to rent the dvd.

The second was United 93 and I actually only saw about half of it. I came in at a point just before the second plane hits the tower and before the hijackers of 93 take the plane – so I got to see the whole events onboard as portrayed in the film.

The fact that this was filmed with low-quality hand held cameras to give it a documentary look was very effective, and the lack of significantly recognizable actors was also effective. It made it easy to get lost in it and feel as if you are seeing live footage of the actual events – especially the scenes of civilian and military air traffic control centers.

I also thought the director did an interesting job of keeping the emotional reaction to the hijackers ‘on the fence’ as it were. You see just enough about their side of the story to humanize them, but not enough to let you fully empathize; while at the same time you never get to fully hate or fear them. That’s a hard line to walk, but I think it was executed really well.

I didn’t start crying until the title cards started giving some of the facts following the crash. I did jump a little watching the moment that the second plane hit the tower – having seen that live on TV at the time. Thankfully the story didn’t last long enough to see the towers fall.

As a movie I think it’s absolutely worth watching if you think you want to.

As an event, it’s still hard for me to grasp.

I was thinking recently about the iconic image that is stored in my head from that day. Every now and then I look up at plane overhead and it happens to be at an angle going away from me in a partial turn to the left…the exact angle I remember seeing the plane in as it hit the tower…and I shiver. I look at planes overhead all the time and its nothing, but that one particular angle is the iconic image that reminds me of the whole day.

The other really iconic image of a tragedy that has a significant effect on me is the Challenger explosion. The image of the smoke trail that rises into a big ball from the explosion, with the two booster contrails leading away from it like horns from a head makes me shudder a bit. Maybe it’s because of my fascination with space flight, or because of the knowledge that one of my favorite teachers was in line to be on that mission, but it’s a personal event that I will always remember along with 9/11 as the ‘Kennedy’ events of my lifetime. And if you don’t know what I mean I mean by a ‘Kennedy event’ it’s a tragedy so shocking and profound that you always remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened – and you felt like your world changed somehow because of it, and it probably did.

So then I cheered myself up with Little Miss Sunshine! Brilliant. One of the things I love about story telling is how the scope of the production is completely independent from the quality of the story! I love big movies with big productions, like Lord of the Rings for example, but a small production can tell just as intriguing a story, as in Little Miss Sunshine. Ok so this is nothing new, I know, but it never hurts to say it again.

Everyone played their parts so well that it’s not worth spending the time to say how good each one was.

I found it interesting to learn that Abigail Breslin (Olive) actually wore a fat-suit to play the role.
Rent this one right away if you’ve not seen it.

Finally there was The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. An enjoyably terrible movie about car racing. Like all terrible movies with terrible plots, predictable love stories, stereo-typed characters, and forced emotional reactions, it survives on ridiculous action sequences and a few moments of redeeming dialogue.

The car races are fun, though not as breathtaking as they are intended to be. Most of the girls are not as hot as they are supposed to be and they all look 14 which I’m happy to say is a turn-off for me, but might be ok for others.

The good dialogue comes mostly from Han, the ‘mentor’ for our hero, who says things like: “There’s no ‘wax on wax off’ to drifting”, “you’re representing me now, what, you think I’m gonna let you roll in a Hyundai?”, and in a moment of serious contemplation “Money I’ve got plenty of, what I need is people around me with character…who you chose to be around lets you know who you are.”

Of course the cameo at the end by the series starter Vin Diesel is the best part. In response to the Shawn’s (the hero) comment that ‘this is no 10 second race’ (referring to the drag racing from the original) Dominic Taretto smiles and says “I’ve got nuthin’ but time!” Clearly this is a reference to the state of Vin’s acting career at the moment, sine I think his last movie was ‘The Pacifier.”

Basically though, if this movie is on late at night when you can’t sleep and nothing else is on…feel free to watch it guilt free.

Quickie

2007-01-17T16:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks, I just haven’t felt it lately. I could have ranted about the recent football games (my mom got an earful after the Boise state game!), told you all about my holidays, gone on about David Beckham, some new movies, the crazy weather here in Seattle, or a number of other things…but like I said I’m just not feeling it right now.

Still I feel kind of obligated so how about I give you the short versions?

Holidays
Christmas was great. It began with a nice night out for my mom’s birthday, followed by a quiet Hanukkah as opposed to the usual zaniness of the Tanta’s Famous New Haven Hanukkah Party and Annual Reunion.
The week home with brothers and cousins was really laidback and enjoyable. For all the warnings it was not really a lean Christmas, as usually happens, and I think all were satisfied. Jared’s girlfriend came up big in the 9th and scored big by giving me both a Leatherman and a digital Sudoku. Jared added ‘300’ by Frank Miller, Pete got me the voice recorder I wanted, and as usual the moms added more than I could have expected. On the other side, I think I did ok with two books for Jared from the number one ranking in Science magazines list of most historically significant science writings: Origin of the Species (leather bound limited ed.) and the Voyage of the Beagle, both by Charles Darwin. Jesse will get a Sirius satellite radio as soon as he picks out the one he wants.
The big event of the season was Jacob and Co. deep-frying the Turkey. Let me first say that no one was hurt, there was no damage to personal property, and no major arguments erupted over the process. Sure things got tense a few times and there was one hiccup due to the oversized turkey for the fryer, but it turned out great and tasted awesome. Well done cous’!

Football
HE FREAKIN PROPOSED TO THE CHEERLEADER!
Yeah, the game was great and we can recap the rollercoaster: The OU comeback to remind you about the reality of big-time football; the int. to take the lead – that’s it game over, right?; The hook-and lateral on fourth down for over time – now it’s a memorable game at least; first play TD – and once again we all thought ‘game over’; but wait halfback pass…Touchdown!; and of course the play that will now be the benchmark by which all others are set, the statue of Liberty for the win on the 2-point conversion…No Freakin Way we just saw that happen!
…and then he freakin proposed to the cheerleader!!! Come on, that is ridiculous! You could not write that movie script! No one would buy it. Even Rudy didn’t get the girl in the end!
As for the Hawks, well you win some and loose some. My voice has recovered from the Dallas game, and my heart will as soon as Chicago looses to New Orleans. It’s just too bad that with a proven game winner in Josh Brown on the sidelines that we couldn’t give him an attempt at even a 60-yarder. Doh.
Yeah, I want the Saints to go all the way at this point – it’s just too good a story for them not to. I also want to see New England beat Manning again but not cause I’m a big fan (after all they beat my Jets) its just way to interesting talking about Manning as the next Marino.

(yeah, those were the short versions)

Weather
Love that Global Warming, huh? El Nino, La Nana, whatever…my jeep can handle it and the other drivers suck.

Beckham
The problem with this is that while Beckham brings one of the most popular names in the game, he’s also one of the most boring players to watch in all of soccer. It’s not like Ronaldinho, Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo or even Rooney, any of whom can amaze you with their play throughout an entire game…its going to be like tuning in to watch an entire baseball just to see Barry Bonds bat 2 or 3 times. I guess that appeals to some, but not me. Hopefully it the structure they implemented to bring him will benefit the league in the long run when other, more interesting folks come over.
I sort of wish that the face of soccer for the in-initiated American general public was someone more interesting to see and less of a pop-culture joke.

I have to share this just because it’s funny to me: http://zombiesloveburningcrusade.ytmnd.com/

Let’s see, is there anything important to talk about? No, not at the moment that I can think of! If I think of anything I’ll get back to you.

Season to buy

2006-12-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

This is a rant about advertising. I love advertising. I love it as a business almost as much as I love movies or books. I mean, once you get past the fact they ads are entirely self serving and contribute to culture in the worst way possible…once you get past that, you have to admis that they as much a potential outlet for creativity as any other medium! And it’s b3ecasue of this that I actually go out of my way to reward great advertising by buying their products, while at the same time avoid products that have horrible ads. Yes that’s me, I’m a consumer.

Thinking caps on:
So first up is a stupid radio ad I keep hearing for a mortgage company that apparently is the first ever not to charge a closing fee. The guy not only tells us that he and the bank are going to make tons of money on interest over the life of the loan, which is why he doesn’t need to charge the ‘extra’ fee, but he than says that this is the ‘biggest no-brainer in the history of Earth.’ And that’s the part that gets me. Forget that he is admitting to robbing us blind on interest…the biggest no-brainer in the HISTORY of Earth? Not the history mortgages, or the history of finance, or even in the history of humanity – No, the history of Earth, which has existed for over 4500 million years!
That got me thinking…what IS the biggest no-brainer in the history of Earth? Right away thought of ‘don’t but your hand in the fire,’ figuring that any of the various stages of man over the millennium would have learned that one pretty quickly as a general rule. Sure individuals violate that all the time, but as a group, humanoids pretty much understand the value of that one. But wait, maybe that’s not such a no-brainer, maybe that’s one you have to experience and therefore use your brain to learn the lesson for the future. So what then would require no intellect or experience to deduce? And for that matter, shouldn’t we branch beyond the various stages of mankind? Shouldn’t we include any type of animal over the years?
It was that sort of thinking that lead me to ‘don’t go over that cliff’ and variations of. Instinct, rather than thought, keeps just about every species from hurling itself off deep chasms. In fast perception studies have been done of various animals and babies with visual cliffs that show that creatures avoid falling when possible. Oh, forget the lemmings, people, there’s an exception to everything!
However, when I presented this discussion to a friend recently, he immediately went to ‘food in mouth’ and the biggest no-brainer in the history of Earth, and that’s hard to argue with. First of all it not only applies to species that live under water or can fly that were perhaps not included in my cliff option. Second, unlike the cliff which requires happening across a cliff during ones travels, it is essential to the survival of any creature and therefore constantly applied! Finally, if the mouth part is removed and it’s simplified to something like ‘consume’ then it applies to ALL living things that grow and reproduce, brain or no brain!
‘Crap’ is the only thing I can think of that has that sort of global appeal.

Not musically inclined:
Why is it all of a sudden the perception that nobody knows the words to the songs they listen too? Most recently this is portrayed in an ad for a portable digital music device where two guys can’t figure out the words to “Rock the Casbah” by The Clash, but it’s been used many times before (some add with Mr. T comes to mind)! Stop the cat box!? What kind freakin’ idiot would conclude that? Especially after having to search for the song BY TITLE in order to download it! This representation of America’s music listeners just has to be put to rest.

WOPR vs. Little Mac
I’m not going to partake in the Mac vs. PC argument. I’ve used both, and at this point they are pretty much equal and differ more in style than in function. I am going to say that the recent Mac/PC ads that Mac has put out are ridiculous and recent rumors are that they have started to backfire, which I’m thrilled about.
You all know the ones I’m talking about, with the two guys – Mac, the young Gen-Y hipster and the PC the nerdy cubicle knowledge-worker?
Let’s recap the series of ads. First they tell us that Macs are good for things like photo’s and movies while PC’s are good for business stuff and programming. Then they tell us that Macs can make web pages about vacations but PCs can only do things like black and white pie charts. In one they imply that only Macs can communicate with things like digital cameras and other devices. Oh, and my favorite – PC’s come in to many boxes!
For a company that has constantly struggled with legitimacy in the computing world, I can’t believe that the customer base they want is the one that would buy this campaign! A recent ad has the two exchanging gifts where the Mac has made a picture scrap book and the PC is into programming guides. “We make happy pictures and all you do is useful stuff’ just doesn’t seem like the message they should be sending.
The real kicker is that another recent ad has the PC stating that he just got bought by a family has gotten to do nothing but pictures and movies and email and web blogs! The Mac feels sorry for him because PC seems to not enjoy it but they are ADMITTING that it can do it!
I have heard that they might be pulling the ads since consumers are starting to sympathize with the PC character more than the Mac…justice, I say!

The good stuff
Finally I get the one I just love.
I’ve never been a fan of Geico ads. I have specifically avoided Geico, no matter how much they claim I can save, because I just can’t bring myself to legitimize their ad campaign. When they initially began their ‘so easy, a caveman can do it’ ads I was not impressed. But, their recent execution of the concept has been hilarious.
For those who don’t remember, the idea started with an ad in which they are filming an ad. The actor say the line and the camera pans so that you see a caveman in the production crew getting offended and causing a scene. The next round of ads showed studio execs trying to apologize by buying a fancy dinner and talking sweet, while one caveman orders, clearly, the most expensive thing on the menu, and the other states that he can’t eat in disgust. Funny, but not great. There was another with a couple of caveman roommates complaining to the TV while watching an ad, and now they have one guy in therapy who catches the shrink painted in the corner with an off the cuff comment.
The good stuff really is in two recent ads. The first shows the caveman, like any other traveler, standing on a moving sidewalk in an airport – iPod, backpack, tickets in hand, etc. With muzak playing in the background, he rolls past a billboard of the Geico campaign showing a stereotypical caveman (skins and club) sitting at a computer. At first he missed it then backs up, looks at it, and throws his arms up in disgust. It’s the reaction that’s so good. he throws this mini tantrum hoping that someone is there to see him, but not so big that he looks like he’s trying to get noticed. You know what I mean – it’s to himself but also to anyone he might be able to get to notice him…but no one is around. It’s the perfect reaction!
The other simulates some daily news opinion story. The moderator says something about how the caveman must admit that historically they have struggle to adapt. The caveman responds sarcastically “right, walking upright, discovering fire, inventing the wheel, laying the foundation for all mankind – sorry we couldn’t get that to you sooner!” not only is that good, but then moderator goes to the counter-point guest who says “looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of rock!” – obviously going for the sound bite, rather than substance. Just like the airport, it’s the caveman’s reaction that I think is great as he rolls his eyes and collapses in his chair disgusted that he can’t get taken seriously! Priceless acting…even for a caveman! And I won’t even get into the frightening reality of the type of interviews they are spoofing.

Airport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZrjr4A-ASQ
Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVVSmnnqfvc

USS Alden Avenue

2006-12-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

So one weekend my brother Jesse, our friend Adam, and I are hanging out at the house playing with the G.I. Joes and Star Wars figures. My dad decides that it’s a perfect weekend to take on one of the major projects he’s been plotting around the house. No…not one of ‘those’ tasks that most men think of doing like fixing the leaky shower, or painting a room – my father didn’t do those things; he paid people to do those things. The chore I’m referring to is the construction of an aircraft carrier. Yes aircraft carrier. For the action figures! Ha, no, not a real one you silly!
See, a few months earlier Hasbro released their newest monstrosity-in-plastic: the G.I. Joe Aircraft Carrier play set. To most kids, including my brother and me, this was the holy grail of G.I. Joe toys! It came with a full deck, command tower with flight center and navigation room. Radar dishes, elevators, and a plethora of other features that every 3.5 inch Joe figure needed to win the war against Cobra! To my father it came with all sorts of cool stuff like a big flat sheet of plastic as a deck, and a square box of plastic as a tower, and a few more pieces of plastic which moved a couple of inches to simulate various things.
That tone that you sense is sarcasm. In reality, to my father it was a triple-digit dollar slab of plastic. He had these funny rules about which toys were cool and worth buying and which were not. The Cobra Ninja was cool enough that all three of us needed one – me, Jesse, and my father. The Star Wars snow speeder was cool enough, but the twin-pod cloud car was not and I still don’t know why.
Back to the story. So he wasn’t going to buy it for us, but since our friend Matt Harper had one, he didn’t want us to be the only kids on the block with out our own aircraft carrier! His solution was to build us one using all of the cardboard prowess he had inherited from his father, and which I have since inherited from him (Jesse inherited the spelling gene, which is also quite useful). Yes, he was going to build us one in the basement out of the stacks of cardboard sheets that had been saved over the years from pressed shirts!
I don’t recall what time the construction began, but it took several hours to collect the materials, make measurements, and draw schematics. Several more hours of marking and cutting the great slabs of steel (cardboard). Sweat and blood were poured into the project as the basement turned into a navy yard at Newport News. Hammers clanged, rivets popped, and sparks flew from white-hot welders. Also a lot of tape, glue, and x-acto blades were used.
Late into the day the hull was finally laid – a 6 foot long teardrop of cardboard with expertly reinforced, crisscrossing bulkheads to hold the shape and support the deck that would lie atop it. I remember my father standing triumphantly over it, as proud as Henry Kaiser must have been of his liberty ships. This was to be his greatest gift to his children who were clearly deserving and waiting patiently and alertly to assist in the construction in anyway possible…
It was then that he must have asked me to hand him something, or look at something, or DO something, anything…and it was then that he realized that I, Jesse, and Adam had wandered from the project, as young boys with short attention spans are prone to do. I mean we were right there! But not there, too. So when he asked and I didn’t respond, and he asked again, and I still didn’t respond, and he may even have asked a third, fourth, or fifth time (I really don’t know!)…something inside him…snapped.
Yes snapped. As sometimes happed within my father. Like when you didn’t tell him you had a paper due Monday until Sunday night. Or like when you – what was it you didn’t used to do, Jesse, that made him pull your hair? Like that…
Now how do I explain what happened next? When I study historic events, like the Roman destruction of Carthage in which each stone of each building was crushed to dust so that Carthage could never rise again, or the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, where for miles every person and structure were vaporized to black carbon ash…I can’t help but think of the image of my father and that aircraft carrier. Godzilla haphazardly tramping through a small city knocking over a few building here and there doesn’t even come close, but if Godzilla took giant strides and specifically crushed every building, house, sculpture, fountain, and monument on the entire island of Manhattan while screaming a deafening sound, shooting fire from his eyes, and smoke from his nostrils, than that would be like my father trampling back and fourth over the cardboard superstructure until each piece had been pulverized back into the earth from whence it came.
There are still nights were Jesse wakes up in the dark from nightmares of being taped and glued into a cardboard coffin and Adam shakes and sweats at the sight of a boat. As for me…I try to stay away from pressed shirts.

203 in the hizzouse

2006-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know it’s been a while since I posted, but I’m back and I’ll try to keep up.

I’m back in New Haven for Thanksgiving. Its nice to be back in the old hood now and then –ya know, gotta rembember ya roots! Word. So let me give a shout out to all the homies from the 203 who be keepin’ it real – Kano, Liu Kang, Rayden, Johnny Cage, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya… (say it with me now) MORTAL KOMBAT! Aedan, Sandy, Ben, Spencer; never loose the faith!

I think it’s worth telling a short story about brotherhood. See, I live in Seattle, and my brother Jesse is currently in Miami. We talk frequently and recently have been planning trips home for Christmas, but apparently both of us had made plans to go home for Thanksgiving as well, but never told each other!
On one of the first nights home, Jared went out to a bar and ran into Jesse, saying “dude, if Jonathan knew you were here he would have come out” implying that if I knew he were at the bar I would have come out to the bar! Jesse, not knowing I was around thought he meant if I knew he were out in New Haven I would have come out from Seattle – but found it odd since he thought I knew he had come home. After Jared got home and told me he had seen Jesse I called him early the next morning, and the following ensued:
“Hello?”
“Dude, what are you doing here?” (Meaning New Haven)
“Um… (What the hell does that mean? What does here mean? Is he questioning my existence?) What am I doing where!?”
“Dude, here!”
“Dude! Where’s here!?”
Once we finally stopped saying ‘dude’ we figured out what had happened and what dumb-asses we had been. I’m sure this will be an episode of ‘Three Brothers, Three Mothers’ when it finally goes to air!

The rest of the trip home was smooth. Watched some good movies, went to the house in Vermont for good food and good converstion with the cousins, drove Jared back to Philly, and even got to see the Seahawks win on Monday night. All followed by a safe, if long, trip back to Sea-town and the 206.

Peace out.

Now you know...and knowing's half the battle!

2006-11-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

14 min 56 sec left

2006-08-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night I went with 66,000 other people to the Real Madrid vs. DC United match at Qwest field. There I was, standing out side before the game, when all of a sudden a Q13 Fox news reporter and her camera man walked up and asked if I wanted to be interviewed!
I got asked about 4 questions which I did my best to answer both intelligently and enthusiastically…but I was unwilling to pander to the Beckham inspired hysteria!
Anyway, I tracked down the news footage that aired later that night and so here is my 4 seconds of fame:

http://www.punterjon.com/videos/JPfoxnews.wmv

14 minutes 56 seconds left…but wait! If you look carefully behind the celebrating United players you can see a cheering fan with black and white striped sleeves! That would be me too.

The full segment is here: http://www.punterjon.com/videos/RealDCFoxnews_1.wmv

House Call

2006-08-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

I was teasing a friend of mine about her college driving record, and jokingly gave her the nickname 'Ten-tickets'...which prompted me to write this little ditty (it's all cliche and camp so don't get too excited):

Chapter 9: House call

…I walked into the crowded bar slowly so as not to draw to much attention. The smoke lay think and did plenty to cover my entrance. A sweet blues song was playing on the jukebox, keeping the mood mellow, which was good – because the crowd in this place could get dangerous in a hurry!
I spotted Rocko ‘the digit’ slummin’ by the bar. His trigger finger was so twitchy it rattled the shot class he was preparing to down, spilling droplets on the bar in front of him. Slinking slowly around the pool table was Johnny French, a two-bit thug from the old neighborhood who liked to pretend he was classy by drinking wine while chowing on bread and cheese - I knew for a fact he’d never left the states, no matter how many times he told that story about the Foreign Legion! Filling out the room were Sly Sammy Silver-tongue, who nobody talked to anymore after the tip he supposedly gave the cops a few years ago; Duke O’Bannon, who never spoke, he just squinted a lot and hit people - hard; Mike ‘the sharp edge’ Thompson who supposedly had more knives hidden on his person than he had hair on his head – which in reality wasn’t to hard for a guy who’s hairline had receded to the back of his neck! Shooting dice in the corner were Silvio Antonelli, a.k.a. ‘The Professor’ and Nikoli Pavelov, better known as ‘The Red Wolf’ – a pair of killers who enjoyed their work. The Professor was prone to tying up victims and lecturing them about the great history of his native land, filling their head with facts before he filled it with lead. The Wolf was a hunter, relentlessly tracking down those that ran from a debt, or otherwise incurred the wrath of patron willing to pay this high-priced assassin.
But I wasn’t here for any them. No, I was here for a bigger prize, I had a larger fish to fry! I spotted the entrance to the back room, a red velvet curtain over by the vending machine, and I knew that’s where she’d be. Yeah, that’s it…she’d be holed up in back making plans, plotting, working out the next gig. She was the brains behind all these thugs and I was there to take her down.
I checked the load in my hand cannon before slowly working my way around the room…moving from shadow to shadow with the skill that comes from 25 years on the job – see, there really ain’t much difference between me and them, except I know what ‘right’ is in the end…and she weren’t it!
I took a last deep breath and stepped through the curtain boldly, only to be greeted all too quickly by a .45 pressed to my cheek and that silky voice…”Hiya Parley” she said, “I though you were gonna stand out there by the door forever.”
“You know me, Jody” I replied, trying to sound calm and cute, “I didn’t wanna surprise nobody!”
Jody McKellen…Jody ‘Ten-tickets.’ You never met a broad like this, I tell ya. Killer body, and a mind to match – and I do mean killer! Know one really knew where the ‘Ten-tickets’ came from, but rumor had it she liked to get pulled over on the highway just to laugh at the poor suckers before she iced ‘em. Most flat-foots knew the sight of her white wheels a mile away and avoided it like the plague, even the rookies…maybe that’s why she was stuck on ten so long.
“How’s this gonna play McKellen? One of us have to die for this to end, or can we find a ‘peaceful’ way out?”
“That’s up to you, Johnny! Maybe you don’t bust in my place with a loaded piece next time and we can work something out for the long run.” A hand snaked under my coat and removed my iron from its holster.
“Problem is, Jo, you think every place is your place…and the good people of this city, the ones who work a hard day and pay a decent tax, are getting tired of your fingers everywhere!”
“Oh, come now, Johnny…you never minded my fingers everywhere!” Just like her to remind me. She always new how to push my buttons, and once back in the day, before she was who she is now, we shared a good time, or two.

Next week: One in the hand, two in the cuffs!

In unrelated news

2006-08-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

I just read that UPS saves millions of dollars a year in fuel because they no longer calculate their routes by the shortest distance. Instead they find the route with the fewest left turns! Apparently sitting in left turn lanes, idling the engine, is worse than going several blocks out of their way. That’s amazing.
Did you also know that it will only cost $200,000.00 to go up into space in the nine passenger Spaceship2 built by Burt Rutan – in just two years time! I might not sell my house for that, but if I won the lottery that would be expense numero uno…

Those two things have very little to do with each other.

three cathedrals

2006-07-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

I was listening to sports radio last night (Dick Fain, KJRAM950) and he was doing a segment about the cynicism surrounding the ‘Sonics issue.’ It got me thinking and I send him this note as an email when I got home…

I grew up in New Haven Connecticut, a city and state that have not a single pro team since we let the Whalers get away and win their title in someone else's hometown. One of the things I love about living here in Seattle for the last 9 years is the atmosphere generated by the 4 pro teams we have.

See, I buy into the analogy that sports are like religion (no intent to offend anyone!), in that they are about faith, hope, redemption, and glory - and also about pain, suffering, and sacrifice! Faith and hope are only real when you hold onto them through pain and suffering; redemption only follows failure; glory is only...well, glorious after sacrifice! These are the reasons we all love sports! Why we love the stories and the history and the movies, and the heroes!

In our case, as fans and citizens of the Seattle area, our sacrifice must be to suck it up and pay for the new stadiums. Because its really not about business models or contracts, taxes, politics or referendums - its about having a team here, in our town, so that we can hold out hope for that one season like the 2001 Mariners that made every person you saw, everywhere in the city, your co-fan and friend. So we can dream each year that this might be the season we have an All-star quarterback and an MVP running back who unite and electrify us like the Hawks did last season! And so we can witness the rare combinations of talent, drive, experience, and class that produce champions like the 2004 Storm!

Stadiums are the cathedrals of our time...I think the saying goes. So yes, let's build one more, for just one more chance to experience all that we hope it will reward us with! Build a stadium, keep the team!

Travel pics

2006-07-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Pictures and descriptions from our trip to Germany are here: http://groups.msn.com/JonathanStuff/germanyworldcup2006.msnw

Best of the Best

2006-07-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

Here is my all-star team of the 2006 world cup. I tried to make it entirely passed on the performances and not past history - sometimes even one outstanding game. Noticeably absent are any Italians and US players…hmmm.

Goal
Hislop (Trinadad and Tobago) That incredible game against Sweden was the best by any keeper of the tourney.
Runner up
Ricardo (Portugal) A European quality keeper on a South American quality squad, he was a major reason they finished 4th and the only player who could dive without looking like a cheat.

Defense
Lahm (Germany) This guy just owned the entire left side of the filed in every game Germany played – as a defender, not a midfielder! He routinely defended guys twice his size and wreaked havoc whenever he went forward.
Thuram (France) Big, strong, smart, skillful. One of the worlds best helped shut down Brazil and Portugal, and almost Italy.
Yorke (Trinadad and Tobago) Technically he played defensive midfield, but, far from his striking days at Man Utd., he essentially played a stopper role – and boy did he do it well for three games.
Colochini (Argentina) countries alike Brazil and Argentina aren’t known for producing great defenders, but I thought Colochini was fantastic as a right back. He was smart, had great timing, and was incredibly difficult to beat one-on-one. Plus there was his ability to go forward and help out on attack.
Runners up
Ferdinand (England) Just solid.
Pantsil (Ghana) Who is this guy? He looked great.

Midfield
J. Cole (England) the goal was fantastic, but the over all play was even better and should give England hope for the future.
Zidane (Trinadad and Tobago) Hopefully we will not remember the head butt the way we remember Baggio’s pk miss, because up to that moment Zizu was inspiring. Magical. ‘nuff said.
Riquelme (Argentina) I still think this was the best team, and it was lead by a passing genius in Riquelme. His vision, timing, effort, and skill were magnificent. His play was beautiful, without needing the flash of the two Ronaldinhos.
Ribery (France) A tireless workhorse with incredible speed, balance, and guts. His one drawback was in the red zone where he lacked some creativity – but as a possession, transition, and ball movement player, he was outstanding.
Runners up
Ronaldinho (Brazil) I mean, come on, the guys ridiculously talented!
Cristiano R. (Portugal) Dude, stop diving and you might make the first squad.
Essian (Ghana) If only he hadn’t missed the Brazil game due to double yellows, Ghana could have won that and then some…

Forward
Messi (Argentina) wow. Not sure that he’s the next Maradona, but he certainly looks like the closest thing in a long time for Argentina!
Henry (France) he always looks like he has no space, no room, triple teamed, posted up, about to fall down…and yet somehow he slips through with the ball and creates a chance! And don’t ever let him face you up on the left wing, because his moves and speed down the line look like something out of a road runner cartoon If France didn’t play 5 mids and leave him alone so much, if someone was always waiting for his last minute passes across the middle of the box, they would score like it was basketball!
Runners up
Schweinsteiger (germany) The Germans lost to Italy cause they wouldn’t transistion with speed, and they wouldn’t actually take shots. So what does this sub do in the third-place game? He goes out and hits the ball at goal every chance he gets – and created 3 goals! When you take opportunities, good things happen. Klose who?
Drogba (Ivory Coast) if they didn’t have to face Argentina AND Holland This guy would have had his nation in the quarters.
Torres (Spain) No one with a David Beckham hair cut gets on the first squad, even with 3 goals!

Coach
Lippi (Italy) Of all the Italian teams over the years, with all their superstars and historic moments, this is the one that wins the cup?! There’s no justice. So I guess you have to give the coach the credit for creating a team that could do all they need to and make it work.
Runner up
Klinsman (Germany) Klinsi as they call him was criticized prior to the event by his nation, but created a team that played with passion, creativity, enthusiasm, and skill – all the qualities he showed as a player himself. By the final whistle on the 8th, the whole nation was cheering ‘Klinsi’ and felt like they had won the whole thing. Man, I hope we can him to coach for us!

Knock-out stage

2006-07-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not keeping up with game by game analysis…I just got to overwhelmed with them all! And then the trip over, etc. etc.

So here are a few short notes on some the final games.

Germany/Argentina: I was convinced the winner of this would take it all, and given how great a game it was the winner deserved to…but obviously Italy had other plans. Basically Argentina lost it by pulling back. With their ability to pass and control the ball they should have played forward the whole game. Then they ran into a wall named Jens Lehmann.

Italy/Ukraine: Italys best game. Ukraine weren’t bad, just totally outmatched.

Brazil/France: Brazil had no answer for Zidane…would anyone? And while not known for their defending, they had to know better than to let Henry run free on a set piece in front of goal! Amaturish…so long, bu-bye!

England/Portugal: What is it with young Manchester United players getting silly red cards in the world cup and killing their teams’ chances to advance? Though, Portugal were always the better team.

Germany/France: More about this game in my travel write up to come, but for now let me say that I spent the final third of the game shouting for Germany to just RUN a bit. They were sluggish on counter attacks and let 6 Azzuri get back to defend every time while they only moved forward with 3 or 4. Ballack was no help in the end and Klose was defended too well, others needed to make a run forward. Oh, and I still hate Del Piero.

Portugal/France: It absolutely WAS a deserved penalty kick. That’s the value of such a quick agile forward like Henry and why you don’t slide tackle in the box. Portugal’s diving was the low point of the tournament for me.

Germany/Portugal: I try to tell the teams I coach that you only score if you take shots! Kick it towards goal and good things happen…just ask Schweinsteiger of Germany. A substitute at only 21 he was not a big name, but by taking 3 shots in almost as many minutes he created 3 goals and landed himself on the cover of every paper in the Germanic speaking world – every single one! See…you shoot and good things happen.

For finals analysis, see my upcoming travel report!

Post-game

2006-06-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Now…unfortunately, is when I get to say “I told you so.” Except that that’s not why I told you – the reverse psychology failed. Or did it? See, with Italy up the US went on the attack and Beasley, who needs to run, finally ran and then made an exceptional cross for Dempsey to finish and I jumped for joy and then made the mistake of starting to believe! And as soon as I did that, the referee came in and reminded me that I was a bad fan and should never have belief, because belief, as opposed to hope, is a bad thing that needs to be punished and driven from my mind. I needed to be reminded that soccer is not that oh so American game of steady incremental forward growth …it’s a game of unexpected and brilliant leaps forward tempered with disastrous steps backwards – like when France win in ‘98 after failing to qualify in ‘94, only to crash out of the ’02. Our time will come, I have hope, but not in the progressive success we believe is our right.

A few specifics: We did not deserve to win. Bad penalties, flopping Ghanaians (Oscar worthy!), and missing players aside…we still did not play well enough to deserve to win. I can’t put it all on Bruce Arena when the players looked so tentative, but he did not give them their best chance to win, as a coach is supposed to. Beasley has no ability to dictate possession in midfield. He can run and he can obviously create opportunities at the front, but he looked lost in the middle with the ball at his feet, standing still, not knowing who to pass to. Donovan seemed un able to get himself involved save for a few minutes after Reyna subbed out and it looked like he and Beasley might take up the responsibility. We could do nothing useful on set pieces – where’s Wynalda when we need him? Heck, put Mia out there to take free kicks! Everyone’s first and last touches were suspect. Keller should never have stopped charging after the steal from Reyna; watch carefully and you see he gives Draman time to circle around the ball and set up the shot with his right foot – charge, slide, and make him shoot lefty or attempt a toe poke.

Al least Italy finally looked like a decent side…they always seem to warm up at the right time, so watch out for them in the next round. Wow, an Italy/Australia match-up would be fun. Talk about your physical games!

Pre-game

2006-06-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

I need to get this on the record for it to work…see, when ever I start to believe that a team I care about can actually win – they lose. The less I have hope, the more they win. I can cite numerous examples over the history of sports and Jonathan fandom, but let’s not relive the pain, please just trust me. Here goes…

The US national team have no hope of qualifying for the next round. None, period. First of all they can’t beat Ghana who are incredibly fast, powerful, confident, and playing well. Second of all, even if they did find a way to beat Ghana, Italy will find a way to screw it up and tie the Czech Republic! Or the Czechs will win and the US will win but not by enough to goals to catch Italy. Or Italy will win, but the US will tie. Something will go wrong in one of the two games.

I consider this the “home depot rule” in that it is similar to the fact that its impossible to get in and out of Home Depot in under an hour. Because if you don’t know what you need it takes an hour to find it and if you do know, then you just don’t know where it is, or if you do know where, then it’s not stocked, but if it is stocked then the check out lines are really long, or even if there is just one person ahead of you…they need customer service to clear their check…hour gone. The only difference is that spending an hour in Home Depot can be a lot of fun for tool junkie like me.

But for a soccer junkie, this rule applied to the US team is gonna suck!!!! See you at 7 am.

The Inventors

2006-06-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

England finally got back to playing decent football during their game against Sweden. If it weren’t for a horrible defending/goalkeeping error in the last minute they would have got away with the win they deserved. That mishap aside, here’s my analysis…

Joe Cole! This guy was amazing, and not just for the goal he scored. I found it fascinating that an outside midfielder could so dominate his teams possession and dictate their attacks, generally something the inside backs would do (see Zidane and Riquelme). But, if you watch carefully, every time England win the ball they swing it out to the left to Cole and he begins their advance – almost like clockwork! Either this is because he really defines their attacks, or it’s simply a result of the other players trying to keep the ball as far away from Beckham on the right as they can…which is also a good plan. It’s to bad England can’t keep him on the bench and just bring him on for moments at a time to take corners and free kicks, because at all other times he’s useless. But back to Cole. He works tirelessly, passes intelligently, and dribbles creatively. By far he’s the closest they have come in midfield to Gascoigne in years!

Along with Cole, Rooney really makes a difference. There is a clear distinction between Rooney and Owen – sorry Owen. Where Owen hangs deep for service, thus encouraging long ball play to release him behind the defense, Rooney comes back and gets involved in midfield play, wins the ball, works in combination with other players to create chances, and generally wreaks havoc for a defense. England will be at their best when he is paired with Owen OR Crouch, but Owen AND Crouch will not see them vary far.

The fact that England won twice with Owen and Crouch and tied with Rooney is an illusion…don’t be fooled. They will need Rooney to win against Ecuador and certainly if they have any chance against the Portugal/Holland winner!

Oh, and a special treat for those of you who haven’t seen it yet…check out this Pele video. He really was phenomenal!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=15723128746091112&q=pele

better...

2006-06-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Well, the US national team have redeemed themselves – a bit. They certainly gave a much better effort and ended up looking like they belonged in this tournament. They will have to do better still to beat Ghana who will challenge them with some dangerous match-ups.

I still think coach Bruce Arena needs to do better. I don’t understand how he finished that game with a substitution left to use!? You’ve got a winnable game, 9 tired players on the field (8 really, since Beasley should not have been tired) and the Italians have not subs to counter with! Get McBride off the field since no one is serving him head balls anymore and he obviously can’t finish a shot – not to mention having a concussion – and get someone like Wolff out there to run around the midfield and forward positions. You would thing that having a fresh Beasley and someone else chasing down every Italy pass would have caused them problems and given Reyna an occasional target for counterattacking passes. Again, this game was winnable and they should have tried harder in the end to take advantage of it.

Well…at least well have a tense last game.

24+1

2006-06-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

It might be the greatest team goal in the history of the world cup! Argentina, with one goal on the boards, turn the ball over to Serbia Montenegro, but quickly win it back when a player sprints over 30 yards to tackle challenge from behind. His tackle sends the ball to a teammate who one-touches it forward to initiate a counter attack…pass #1. What follows is almost half a minute of straight possession in which Argentine complete 23 additional passes – 24 total passes in and out of pressure. The last is a little back-heal by Crespo as he draws 2 defenders in the box. The pass sets the ball up for Cambiasso to poke it past the keeper with his left foot. Fantastic!

At this point SM are still playing with intensity, attempting to pressure ball handlers or close down passing lanes, but Argentina not only handle the ball too well, they move to new spaces to quickly for markers to keep up. I would call it a text book goal, but no textbook ever written called for 24 consecutive passes, all under 20 yards in length, to both sides of the pitch, including 8 different players, ending with a back heal and a goal!

I’ll tell you this now…if Argentina play this way through the rest of the tournament, not only will they win, but they will forever complicate discussions about the best World Cup side ever.

Want to see what I’m talking about? Watch the goal here:
http://www.punterjon.com/videos/argentina_24-moby.wmv

critical analysis

2006-06-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

I’ve decided that Croatia have the best uniforms of the tournament so far!

First of all they have solid white socks. This may seem trivial, but socks play a huge role in the overall effect of a uniform. After all it’s the socks that show of the speed and movements of the players – the angles at which they stand off the turf, the way they blur when players run, and how they contrast to the field and the shoes is critical to communicating the deft movements of these incredible athletes. Dark socks just don’t cut it, even when they elegantly match a solid color scheme like Italy’s or Portugal’s. Not enough contrast from the surroundings with dark socks, not enough flash. Some of the teams with white socks have gone and ruined them by adding all sorts of odd vertical stripes, which while designed to me slimming, I’m sure, just don’t work. 1 to 3 horizontal stripes are acceptable because of the way the create arcs as a player runs, but vertical stripes just get in the way of the pristine white.

Second, Croatia are one of the few teams who still use a unique jersey designed after their countries flag. 1994 was loaded with custom jerseys – Mexico’s sublimated Aztec design at the top of the list at the time – but since then makers have gone for plain and understated. At first I like this, it was a refreshing change and the Nike jerseys worn by Brazil, the US, and a few others were classy. But now everyone has the same jersey in a different color! And they are all decorated with little wispy highlights around the seams that look like someone missed the pattern while sewing. Croatia on the other hand use the bold red and white checker pattern of their national flag for a dynamic look. The solid white back keeps it from being overwhelming, and the loose fit (unlike the muscle shirt-style made by Puma and some others) allows the shirt to wave and ripple under the arms and along the side of the torso as the run…and especially when they celebrate by flying with outstretched arms! The waving flag effect is especially enhanced by the slow-motion replays of the celebrations. It’s a great effect on the field, but also the crowd has a unique look that’s both dizzying and electrifying.

While I’m not a big fan of white shorts (light top, dark shorts, white socks as a general rule) Croatia make them work and as a whole the uniform is classy, flashy, and individual all at the same time.

Argentina are probably a close second with the vertical striped jerseys they’ve worn for years. Adidas did a nice job on these and like the Croatian shirts they have that waving effect and the flag reference. They compliment the shirts with black shorts and white socks…everything you could ask for. Too bad Spain have the same jersey, different colors.

Even though Brazil are going with the blue socks, its hard not to enjoy their classic yellow and blue. They didn’t do anything to ruin it, so we are left with flashbacks to the teams of Pele, Zico, and Socrates.

A few honorable mentions: Angola for the horizontal colors on the jersey, Holland for still being brave enough to wear solid orange, and T&T because everything about them is worth celebrating!

As for the worst? Ukraine have got to take the cake so far, and not just because they have the worst loss (though thankfully someone took that role away from the US)! That hideous all yellow with the horrible blue razor stripes…I’m surprised their coach wasn’t wearing Will Farrell’s blue on blue tiger outfit. It actually looked like a Nuevo college football uniform and I half expect the Oregon Ducks to copy it next year. Somehow Sweden didn’t look as bad…

Also in the running is every team with a Puma jersey sporting those three logos around the collar – talk about your logo creep! Nike has learned to downplay the swoosh, Puma needs to take the hint.

Of course this is only based on the first set of games…we’ll soon see who’s second jerseys effect the standings.

the not so beautiful game

2006-06-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ok so it’s the next day and my distain has tempered to merely disappointment. I didn’t get to watch the game live, I was relegated to following the action on ESPN’s live text update thing-a-ma-bob, and waiting until I got home to see the tivo’ed replay. Whoever was typing was underselling the US performance, though not by much. Having now watched the game…I’m a tad more optimistic in some ways, but also more confused in others.

There’s no doubt that the US players looked lackluster and out of sync. While most of that has to fall on them, you also have to say that Czech Rep. looked very good, very big, and very physical. Nedved was all over the place and causing tons of problems with his creativity. They will seriously test everyone they face. That pass for the third goal was fantastic, even if simple. I also think a significant amount falls on Bruce Arena! A coached main job is to find a formation that allows players to play to their strengths, and not expose their weaknesses! In that regard he failed.

Playing Donovan so far forward was a mistake. He’s a player who needs to have touches on the ball and create plays by running forward; he’s never been a target forward like McBride. I was surprised he was not placed in a forward midfield position (or as a hanging forward) where he could more often combine with Reyna. Forcing him to wait for service so far forward was a mistake and left him out of touch. The few times in the first half he came back and got involved he earned a free kick (and a yellow for the opposition) or created a scoring chance! And if it wasn’t Arena’s plan that he play that way, than Donovan really needed to step up.

Why the hell was Beasley on the right side!? You could see he was out of sorts from the beginning, cutting the ball to his left foot toward the inside of the field every time, completely stopping forward progress, rather than using his speed down the sideline as he would on the left. If Arena wanted to start strong and test the Czechs early, why not put him where his speed was going to be dangerous to them! Because he wasn’t taking the ball deep and making crosses to McBride running on goal, he was pulling up and playing long balls in to him when his back was to the goal, where he’s much more susceptible to defensive pressure. Just poor tactics.
And yeah, they looked lazy…with a style of play way to close to England and not enough like Argentina. There was very little of the midfielders and forwards checking to the ball, creating movement with passes, probing for weaknesses, etc. (Oh, how the game might have been different if Reyna’s shot had equalized…)

Here’s the good news as I see it. We have a history of poor games against strong, but unknown eastern European teams, but a much better history against established teams like Italy, Portugal, Brazil, and the like. We get ‘up’ for those much more frequently. And to go with that I think all the problems we had in game 1 are fixable, pretty quickly. Its not a matter of hitting the training grounds again, just changing attitudes and some tactics to mach what they should be used to! Italy will no doubt be tough, but they are not unbeatable, and a tie still keeps us alive.

Of course, I love the US…but it’s always been Forza Azzuri! for me. ;-)

Ole!

2006-06-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

OK so the world cup is off and running…and once again I’m completely caught up! I have no idea how I’m get any work done over the next month.

The games have been great so far. I thought the opener was decent; it’s always good to start with a goal-fest, just to soothe the nay-sayers early. As everyone has pointed out Germany will have to shore up that defense to go all the way. England have their usual flaws – lack of creativity, too many mistakes – but I won’t rule them out yet. Portugal on the other hand was almost too creative, not taking advantage of straight forward opportunities. T&T are obviously the story so far, and I think they will surprise again when they have a full side…watch out England and Paraguay! Their right back, Edwards, was absolutely fantastic, as was the rest of the side. He’s my favorite so far, even with former Man. U. striker Dwight Yorke and Hislop having great games. Where Ecuador looked confident and energetic, Poland looked lackluster and overwhelmed by the environment. Mexico and Iran both played hard, but I thought the game had a lot of mistakes and poor technique. Holland and Serb.Mont. played out a classic European contest in what surely is the Group of Death (sorry US) with Argentina and Ivory Coast rounding it out. That game was fantastic! Argentina showed they are not only tactically sound all around, but they are creative and clinical finishers! So far they are my favorite – with Italy, France, and Brazil still to take the pitch. But before I look ahead to far let me say that Ivory Coast, I thought, showed a lot of promise and could have easily made it a different game had a few things gone their way. They will certainly effect the group outcome by over their next two games.

All in all it was a great start and I can’t wait for the rest! Tomorrow we will se the US and Italy…followed by Brazil and France on Tuesday. Hold your breath sports fans…it’s just gonna get better!

Super-duper!

2006-06-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

Just watched X-men this weekend and I’m reminded of the age-old question: if you could have any superpower, which one would you want?

Now, to answer this requires a couple ground rules. First of all you need to eliminate something all encompassing like super-telekinesis, meaning the ability to do anything you can think of, – similar to Phoenix’s powers, or Green Lantern’s, or granting wishes like a genie. Second, it has to be A power, not a set of them like Superman’s powers – either you get flight, or x-ray vision, or strength, or heat vision, etc. However you do get any necessary accompanying abilities, like if you can breathe underwater then you can also withstand deep pressures; if you get super speed than your body and vision can handle the velocities – otherwise the power is a waste.

Ok, so what are some of the classic superpowers? I’ll list 10, and you can all rank them from best to worst.

1. Flying. This, of course, is probably the first thing that comes to mind. Superman can do it as well as many others, and those that can’t try desperately to make of for it in some way with airplanes, jet-packs, jumping, or fancy tricks. Basically it’s just a mode of transportation, yet it’s so much more than that! Its freedom! It’s the ability to literally lift yourself above all else! Who wouldn’t want to be able to just lift off the ground go wherever you wish at an amazing speed; to be able to drop in and out places at will; to have a place you can go to that no one else can touch you! Let’s also just say that flying covers all forms of self levitation, but also that your speed is limited to about mach 3 – no spinning the Earth around backwards.

2. Super-speed. And by that I mean running or moving on the ground. Made famous by the Flash, we’ve seen this in a lot of forms, including super-agility. Most recently Neo illustrated how speed over time, rather than over distance, can be useful in dodging bullets and basically reacting faster than the other guys. This includes all that. Again, it’s a mode of transportation with serious additional benefits, but maybe not the elegance of flight!

3. Invisibility. This one is just sneaky. Sure we can go with the whole ‘it’s nice to be able to slip away and not be bothered’, but really this is about spying, sneaking up on people, and generally being where you are not supposed to be. While there are all sorts of complications about what happens to your clothes, and what if you eat something, and even a question of weather or not you could see if light passes through your eyes, let’s keep it simple – you turn invisible and no one can see you! Pretty cool.

4. Mind–reading/Telepathy. Wouldn’t we all like to know what the person across from us is thinking? Well here you go. Read their mind and know their thoughts. Does that girl like you? What does your boss want to hear? What do your friends really think of you? Which one is the killer? All good questions, but are you prepared to really know the answer? Be careful with this one – sometimes you can know too much! So let’s say that yes you can turn it on and off. Additionally, you can send message to communicate to someone’s mind who you specifically target.

5. Telekinesis. Literally this means ‘distance-moving’, moving things with your mind. Feel free to use this for everything from writing notes without touching the pen, to hurling cars out of your way to get through traffic. Well have to impose some limits like you cant lift anything bigger than a semi, and just for fun, you can’t move yourself – so no getting around the fact you can’t fly! In fact you can’t move sentient beings, sorry. So no throwing people, but you can throw things at people, so you still gotta admit that this has some usefulness. Stop bullets, open doors, hurl objects, construct barriers, etc. get creative!

6. Super-strength. I tend to think this is pretty boring, but it has to be on the list. Not only is it a classic super-power, but I mean just think of the sports dollars you could rake in! Forget steroids, they can test all they want and they won’t find anything cause it’s a superpower! Ok, really I think this is pretty limited on face so let’s also say that strength makes you nearly invincible to physical damage. That’s right, scrape proof, bruise proof, bullet proof – mind you, you can still drown, get poisoned, have a heart attack, and so on, but you’ve got nothing to fear from Mike Tyson!

7. Elemental control. This is the first of a couple of powers that actually represent a few different possibilities. See, we’ve got a ton of supermen and women who have some various form of control over fire, ice, water, wind, lightning, metals, just about everything except dirt – as far as I know. Let’s call all of those ‘elements’ (earth, wind, fire, water) and say that control over one is pretty similar to control over another. You only get one element, mind you, so take your pick, but your powers are basically limited to making that one element do ‘stuff.’ Personally I think Magneto’s control over metal is pretty handy in this day and age, but some of you might like to control the weather, while others may feel that controlling fire is mankind’s ultimate achievement! Once again, I’m not gonna let you wear steel-toed boots and fly yourself around or wrap yourself in flame for the same reason (flying is it’s own power), but if you want to skate over the ice like Mr. Freeze, be my guest.

8. Transformations. This is another one that’s really many-in-one as I see it. The ability to transform oneself has take three main forms: shape shifting ala Iman (STVI:TUC) or Mystique; Scaling ala Atom or Apache Chief; plasticity ala Plastic Man, Elastigirl and Reed Richards. Shape Shifting allows you to change your identity, which has many obvious uses, most of them devious – like invisibility. You’re not gonna save a lot of people by changing your looks. Scaling I always found interesting especially when you look at some of the creative stuff Atom could do. But I have to thing that plasticity has some of the greatest potential of any super power! Who needs speed when you can take tremendously long steps? You can reach anything, bounce bullets off…stretch into just about any shape. This has got to be a top contender!

9. Regeneration. This does not come with the claws even though that would put it at the top of just about everyone’s list. No, but you do get to heal from just about any wound and you can even re-grow limbs. At some point it has to end so let’s say critical damage to 70% of your core or decapitation will end you, as will old age, drowning, etc.. But until then, you are nearly invincible! So go ahead and take the risks – try street luge, go hunting with the vice-president, play lawn darts…enjoy!

10. Teleportation. I’m here, but I wish I were there…poof, here I am! That’s basically it. The ultimate in transportation. Instantaneous relocation. Its only really fun if you can take someone with you, so yes to that. But since it must be limited somehow, lets go with the classic ‘you must be able to see or envision the location to which you want to go’ or you risk reconstruction inside something. For most of us that’s a reasonable limitation, for you explorers…you’ll have to find another way there, at least for the first time!

Others that didn’t make the cut: X-ray vision, threat-sense (like Spidey), missiles (throwing stuff or shooting arrows), underwater breathing, wall-walking (again like Spidey, or Toad), and all those powers that seemed to specific. If one of these, or something completely missing, strikes you’re fancy then go ahead and add it to your list.

texting

2006-06-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

I've never been big on texting. Why not just call and have a conversation. If you're in a crowded bar where you claim you can't hear me then either go outside because you want to talk to me...and if that's to much trouble, than whatever you have to say is probably not that important. I think I see it as a living in the 'now' and being satisfied with where you are.

Anyway...I just watched an episode of the animated Boondocks by Aaron McGruder and on it the two urban-gangsta-wanna-be's have the conversation below. The first speaker (SJ) is voiced by Samuel Jackson doing his best Julius of Pulp Fiction style rant...

SJ: Man, I don’t get that.
EW: (texting) Get what?
SJ: That texting shit.
EW: What’s wrong with texting!?
SJ: You mean aside the fact that it’s the stupidest fucking thing in the world? I mean, why would anyone in their right mind spend 15 minutes trying to type some shit they cold have called and said in 5 seconds!? Plus it involves typing with your thumbs, which I just don’t approve of. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time to read nothing a mutha-fucker typed with his thumbs. Point of fact – nothing typed by someone’s thumbs has ever been important. Its all just nigga technology anyway!
EW: Watchu call it?
SJ: Nigga Technolnogy! Technology for niggas; and don’t start trippin’ and calling me a racist, cause I don’t mean nigga in a disrespectful way, I mean it as a general term for ignorant mutha-fuckers. Anybody, of any race, can be an ignorant mutha-fucker.
EW: Shit, I be texting my ass off! Bitches like texting. I be texting them all the time. Matta fact, I also be texting my weed man too, cause he don’t like to be on the phone so I text him!
SJ: Case in point. So basically nigga technology is anything that doesn’t plug into a printer. Does that plug into a printer?
EW: No.
SJ: Know why? Cause niggas never have anything to print.
EW: Hold up (texting)…I sent that bitch a smiley-face; bitches love smiley faces! Well excuse me for being into computers and all!
SJ: First of all, just because you put a two way pager in the middle of your desk, doesn’t make it a computer. It’s a two-way pager, aight?
EW: OK, then what’s the difference?
SJ: The difference is a computer is something that does actual work! Nigga technology don’t do much more than let dumb niggas talk to other dumb niggas about dumb nigga shit.

I sort of like that take...plus watching it, it's hilarious.

Now on to the rediculousness of the walkie-talkie phone...

Louis

2006-06-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

I recently read someone’s account of their fathers' passing and realized it was time to post this somewhere...it's what I wrote for my dads service:

In California, where my father was when he died, we held a service for the people there who knew him. We found a place called the Petaluma Historical Library Museum, a small place cluttered with obscure artifacts and books, a stained glass dome in the ceiling, and pillars on the facade…perhaps a perfect place for the moment. The truly fascinating thing, however, were the people who showed up.

There were probably about 50 of them in the end. Most were from Crate & Barrel where he had been working. Some of them were older, my father’s age, and like him, seemed to be working there as they coasted along through their simpler years. Some were more my age, working their way up in life or making a stopover between other things. Some of the people worked at the family law firm where he had recently been hired as a paralegal. To most of us that’s a laughable concept…well to them it was too, and his boss told the story of discovering a two-inch think resume among the grossly inadequate single sheets of the other applicants! Finally there were some who lived near my father and knew him from ‘around the neighborhood’ as it were. All these people adored my father! In what was for most of them less than a year, they had seen and accepted my father as a wonderful man…someone they adored, trusted, enjoyed, cared for, and would miss.

The interesting thing for me was hearing the comments which seemed so out of place. A lawyer called him ‘humble.’ Someone said ‘he’s always so calm.’ And my favorite…‘he wasn’t great at dinnerware, but boy could he sell furniture!’

My point is that knowing, and appreciating my father was a matter of perspective…all of ours different. And for each different perspective, a different relationship…for better or for worse.

What I’d like to do now is to share with you my perspective, and the way I knew my father.

First of all he was never my ‘father’…he was my dad. He was probably Daddy for a while, and later he was Pop, but mostly he was Dad. That’s important because he was never formal, he was never aloof, and he was never unreachable or preoccupied. On the contrary he was always involved, caring, eager, and open. He knew how to snuggle, to hug, to wrestle, and how to gently carry me from the car to my bed when I was asleep. Once when I was home sick at his house, he made me rice crispy treats to cheer me up…which I promptly threw up an hour later. After that he let my mom be my nurse no matter which house I was at.

I know that New Haven has lots of brilliant and successful lawyers, some here today…but from my perspective, you are all incomparable to my dad! You are Lilliput to his Gulliver; Watsons to his Holmes; Carthage to his Rome. I’m sure he never lost a case or a battle of wits. He would never say such things, but he would smile when we asked him, and his eyes would sparkle as he tried to find the right words to explain that family law wasn’t really about winning or loosing…

I used to walk to his office at the Marcus Law Firm building downtown, the big mansion that was next to Running Start. Walking into that building, it was like my dad was an ambassador or something. And everyone knew me too so I was just as important as he was. Jay would tell me he was on the phone but I could go right in. His office was a throne room, his desk was huge and I was allowed to put my feet up on it. It was all fitting given my perspective.

My dad was an Encyclopedia Galactica! His mind was the original world wide web of information and he was the master Googler. Basically it’s because he read everything ever written by man or beast, including those monkeys that are still infinitely typing. He knew about every history subject I asked about for class. He could recite every play I was forced to read for English. Maybe Spanish was pushing the boundaries a bit, but he tried. Math on the other hand, well, let’s just say he sent me to my mom for math help. Writing papers however, I did with him. “Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, tell ‘em, then tell ‘em you told em!” That was his formula and I learned it last minute after last minute as I procrastinated my way through report after report. But see, I could, because Sunday night when I announced that I had a paper due the next day on the mating rituals of Alaskan king crabs and how they are affected by the lead used in hull welds of boats build at the Brooklyn Navy yard, not only would he have four books on the subject, but he would have been to the Brooklyn navy yard! He’d yell a bit about me waiting till the last minute and make me stay up until it was done, but he would also stay up the whole time helping me through it…and he always let me spend as long as I wanted to on the illustrated cover. In the end he was as proud of each as I was.

Jesse and I learned later how to tell when he was, in fact, bullshitting his way through something…but somehow that just added to the amazement of what he did know while giving us new respect for his creativity. And that, in itself, became a game…

A game…because my dad was playful. More than anything he was playful. I have no doubt you have all suffered through his humor! From my perspective there was not a lawyer joke told in the tri-state area that wasn’t routed through my fathers fax machine for approval and distribution. He never told a joke just once either. When I was young my dad was hilarious, as I got older he became corney, then later predictable and droll, till in the end he was tolerable and mildly amusing. Somewhere along the way I started telling all the same jokes as him!

How else was he playful? “Pick a finger” he would say. “Now I’m going to mix them up, see if you can find it again.” I remember hours and hours of Risk. Sometimes it took a whole vacation to conquer the world and so he had a system for saving the board each night for the next day’s battles. I remember playing Parcheesi at the house on Brownell Street and Othello in the basement of 2 Alden.

There were the things he bought…the Star Wars figures, the G.I. Joes, the water guns, the endless stream of plastics in to the house (I think he was single handedly trying to prove The Graduate right)…and then there were the things he made!

Cardboard, wood, sand, Lego, even mashed potatoes! We made sandcastles, then set storm troopers on the walls and towers and took turns throwing pebbles till our opponent’s force and castle were destroyed. He had precise mixtures for the sand and exact specifications for the stones, to maximize the fun. We waited for each snow fall so we could dig trenches in the backyard for the rebels and then march imperial walkers across the frozen tundra. We built cardboard boats, fortresses, and forests for the Joes, Cobras and Ewoks. We spent Saturday mornings building cars, tanks, airplanes, helicopters, and spaceships out of Legos. Sunday mornings we dismantled them for parts so we could make new ones.

When my dad and I lived on Brownell he made a train table for my grandfather’s trains that was hinged and lifted up into the wall while I was off at my mom’s. When we moved into 2 Alden he made a sandbox…which was used less by us and more by the local cats as a litter box. He built a train board in the basement there too, but we later used the space for model building – plastic airplanes that eventually perished when my dad showed us how to set them on fire and throw them out the second story window. One time he figured out how to fly the Millennium Falcon from Jesse’s room on the second floor to the garage, while small strings made futuristic paratroopers drop to the ground to begin their assault on the aliens who had taken over our back yard…a plot inspired by a book of course: Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.

From my perspective, the millions of dollars he spent on toys where not to spoil us, but to give him an excuse to play with us, to spend time. The books he read to us every night and the movies we watched every opening day were his excuse to teach us and to share stories, real or fantasy.

From my perspective my dad was the greatest dad ever. I would change nothing about him or the things he did. My only wish would be that he had the opportunity to be the greatest grandpa ever. I wish that he could have built things for his grandchildren, like he did with me. “Pick a finger, any finger” he would say. I want to see him proud of them the way he was of me. And I want him to see me follow the lessons he taught me about the most important job he ever had, from my perspective.

Sometimes I am motivated to do some things in my life because I saw someone do it poorly, but I am motivated to do the important things because I saw someone else do them right! My dad got it right…and now…well, what can I say but “I want to learn the ways of the force, and become a Jedi like my father before me.”

Forza!

2006-06-06T00:25:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I booked my flight to Germany for the World Cup. Jared is in Barcelona for the semester and is going to meet me there. No, we don’t have tickets, but we are going to try to get as close to the stadiums as we can and just feel the passion! We will be in Munich for the semi-final game there, then head to Berlin for the finals. For all of you wondering about my picks, I don’t expect the U.S. to be in either of those games. It’s hard not to think that the hosts will have a great chance, especially after finishing second last time, and Brazil are still favorites despite some stumbles without Ronaldo. I’m still an Azzuri fan even though they are no longer guided by the Devine Ponytail. I guess that’s still not exactly a prediction…
So I’m going to Germany and I’ll have a great time, but I have to say that part of me feels…weird. Something about being Jewish make is hard to get really excited about going there. Not enough to keep me from going, just enough to take a little bit of the luster off.
I watched X-Men 3 this weekend, which is partially about Magneto…and mutant who survived the Holocaust and feels like the human treatment of mutants is similar. He uses his power to try to ensure he doesn’t have to endure it a second time, but basically adopts a ‘good offense is the best defense’ approach. I’m not sure you can blame him.

had to go there eventually, might as well start it early!

2006-05-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was just listening to an interesting interview on sports radio with former pitching great Jim Palmer, who was asked about the state of baseball, steroids, Bonds, McGuire, etc., and I thought he made an interesting point.

Specifically he was asked if he would vote for McGuire, Tony Gwinn, or Cal Ripkin for the Hall of Fame, all of whom come up for induction this year. He said no to McGuire because he was essentially a one-dimensional player…meaning he only hit homeruns. He went on to make the point that whether you think it’s a result of steroids, juiced balls, diluted pitching, or smaller parks, the fact is that homerun hitting is devalued in the current era because so many guys seem to be able to do it in great numbers! When Babe was playing he hit more home runs a season than whole teams because so few players were hitting homeruns, while Aaron’s records are a result if incredible consistency for a player who never hit more than 45 in a season. But never before the current era was there the frequency of homeruns from the number of players – Griffy Jr., Palmiero, Conseco, Giambi, A-Rod, Sosa, Mcguire, Bonds, and others.

I liked that approach, because it deals with the fact that we only have circumstantial evidence about steroid use (though one can argue that the abundance of circumstantial evidence is overwhelming and many have been convicted of more serious crimes with less!). It punishes, if you will, players who sacrifice an all around game for one specific stat. McGuire was never more than a 2 tool player. But it rewards the likes of Griffy and A-Rod, Gwinn and Ripkin, who were much more well rounded players and who achieved at high level in all facets of the game - they won gold gloves on defense, hit for high average, hit for power, ran bases well, and so on. Sort of like Bonds before he decided to go for the long ball…

and another thing

2006-05-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else think the new US soccer jerseys by Nike are styled after the allied shirts from Victory?

Interesting that we wear these to the World Cup in GERMANY! Coincidence…I think not!

I saw that new soccer movie, Goal!, and I think it was actually pretty good. Not a top tier sports drama like Hoosiers, Chariots of Fire, or Miracle (also Friday Night Lights, Seabiscuit, Remember the Titans, Raging Bull). But it does fall in that second level of quality as far as I’m concerned – with Rudy, Breaking Away, Coach Carter, The Rookie, and such. And yes, it’s better than Bend it like Beckham.

Unfortunately they couldn’t bring themselves to completely stay away from a love interest, but at least it was minimal. The soccer action was not bad (best to date), and the use of pro players was well executed. It had some good ‘hooks’ – him being an illegal in the US and not able to go home if he gets cut from the English squad; his struggle with his father; the conflict with other hopeful players, and his effect on the established superstars. They also didn’t force him into the hero role too quickly; he spends a good amount of time adjusting to the pro European game before he gets called up.

By the way, I’m not giving away any spoilers here, don’t worry! I'd say see it in the theatre to support soccer, otherwise wait for video.

The film isn’t intended as such, but it is a subtle commentary on the lack of scouting in this country for our own good. I still believe that it is possible for the next great player in the world to exist here and never get noticed and developed. We rely too heavily on expensive private programs to develop young players, and precious few of those have the resources to scout the kids that are pushed into them by affluent parents. These clubs are also hampered by parental politics – since they pay the club, they feel they control what happens (in Europe the clubs are owned and funded by the major teams and players are developed in the clubs interest).

The volunteer coaches of the free teams are generally not soccer savvy enough to spot the early signs of a high performer…not the way we can in baseball, basketball, and football. It’s also true that many of the players who grow up around the sport are still poor immigrants who can’t afford to play and don’t see soccer as an option the way basketball is. I couldn’t help but watch the film and think it should be the true story of Alvaro Zuniga…the best high school player I’ve ever seen!

Coming Soon: My World Cup picks!

Deuce

2006-05-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well it's day two and I've nothing particularly interesting to say. This is why blogs are such a good idea, but so poor in execution, I guess. Let's see if I can come up with anything without going to some of my old standards or previously written items...

Google just launched its Google Mars maps to go along with Google Earth. Once again I'm reminded of the fact that I'm absolutely convinced the humans will colonize Mars (possibly with terra-forming) and then eventually other planets outside our system. The history of mankind filled with expansion movements based initially on the need for resources (food from herds, then farmland) but more recently on the simple need for more elbow room! As we continue to fill the Earth at an alarming pace, we will soon need more space to occupy.
Certainly we can take advantage of undersea habitat technology as well as subterranean to satisfy the need, but I think that as we learn more about the possibility of an E.L.E on Earth (asteroid collisions and climactic changes) we will as a species realize that survival requires us to spread out across celestial bodies. The same technology that would allow for subsurface habitats would work for extraterrestrial housing, so it's not a big leap once we reach that point - for that matter we HAVE reached that point technologically; the only impediments are emotional and financial commitment.

Ok, as I write this an interesting counter-argument occurs to me…no I take that back! I was going to ask if humans have become so adept at creating and living in cities that the desire for space no longer exists on a scale required for a species-level expansion push. Have production and construction methods eliminated the need for individual land? These may or may not be good questions, but I think rather than settling in to urban life, we are in fact moving out of the period ruled by cities. I think that suburban sprawl is increasing, and the sophistication of both communication and distribution methods are allowing for the spreading out of the population.
Cities were powerful because they centralized systems and support services, allowed for the sharing of resources, and provided safety. But now physical proximity is less important for those things. Communication technology allows for instant global reach and the technology of distribution systems is growing rapidly (consider that highways are only about 60 years old and jet transport is only about 40!). As for safety, recent history (and weapons technology) suggests the spreading out is now safer than bunching up!

So, in the end I’m back to being convinced that we will eventually live places beyond Earth! Unfortunately, even as the price of space technology falls (see Spaceship One) I don’t think this will occur in my lifetime…

…damn!

First go

2006-05-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

well...this is it - my first blog! I guess I've joined the trend. Why? I think I realized that I often go on these rants in my mind that I sort of want to share with people, but I'm never sure if people really want to hear them; this way, I can rant and if people care they can read it.
Also, I think it will be a way for me to have some of the conversations with my father that I can no longer have with him in person (since he's recently gone).

Anyway, this is my first entry and one which I needed in order to be able to see my blog site and see if its working.

For those of you out there reading...enjoy!