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June 28, 2002

Here's something I wonder about. What possesses Northwestern professors to type their own names into Google? First there was Mark Witte, which even as a string only yields my page on the 94th result (at least last time I checked), who commented on my ability to remember his quotes, as though I don't write them all down immediately. Today it was my Intro to Sociology professor Joanne Labonte, who had this to say: "Thanks for quoting me in your profquotes 00-01. I crack myself up." Running a search on her name turns up the site with result #5, so I guess it's a lot more understandable. Though I just re-ran the Witte search and it's now the 10th result (but I know when he first found it, it was 94), so hey. Exposure galore.
So long as we're talking about professor quotes, I should complete the 01-02 profquotes page tonight, since I'm already thinking about it. "Hilarious" quotes from Marc Robinson and Mary Finn. I also have quotes from art history class that came from the students, not the teacher... since they're all my buddies, I guess they'll end up in the regular quotes section.

June 27, 2002

How I Spent (One Day of) My Summer Vacation

   Long day, but pretty fun. Up at nine after less sleep than I would have liked, on a train to Hoboken at 10:30. There were a couple of really annoying little kids (whiny, hyperactive, loud) on the train out. Almost verbatim transcript:
Kid: "Knock knock."
Mother: "Who's there?"
Kid: "Who's there?"
Mother: "Um..."
Kid: "Knock knock."
Mother: "Who's there?"
Kid: "Who's there?"
[This repeats once, possibly several more times.]
Mother [clearly getting annoyed]: "I don't get this. I'm saying 'who's there!'"
Kid: "You have to say 'who's there who?' Knock knock."
Mother: "Who's there?"
Kid: "Who's there?"
Mother: "Who's there who?"
Kid [loudly]: "Who's there! Gehhht it? Because his name is Who's There!"
    Just kill me now. The "best part" was that on the train home I'm sitting there, and I see them go walking by, and praying they don't stop, but of course they sit right in the front of my car, so I had to hear those loud, whiny bastards for another half hour. At that point I seriously considered hurling myself from the train, preferably onto something hard and/or pointy. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
    The train actually shut down about 300 yards from the station, apparently having blown a fuse. At first it seemed like a "be here all morning" type problem, but then they got it going again by apparently just turning the key or whatever it is they do, after just five minutes. So no biggie.
    Of course, because of the way the trains run, I was at 9th street by about ten after 11, cleverly giving me 20 minutes to wander around lost before I found Washington Square Park. As it was only 11:30, though, I sat there for a full 45 minutes before Shannon showed up, which is not at all a big deal since there was pretty much no way I was going to be sitting there for less than 30 minutes. The last 15 was basically just a formality.
    Lunch, which was pretty routine. I won't say anything about it here except it's amusing when someone who speaks English worse than you do says something you don't understand, so you sort of look puzzled, prompting them to ask you if you speak English. Is there really anything about me that would give the impression that I don't speak English? Next time I'll just say "nyet" in a thick Russian accent and avoid another five uncomfortable minutes as I continue to figure out what the guy has said to me.
    Then the great trek north (I feel like a Boer or something). We walked about 50 blocks from Washington Square Park to Central Park, which included the following sojourns:
    * Visit to the Empire State Building's observation deck, which was probably worth $9. Saw Central Park, the Chrysler, the UN, the Statue of Liberty, and various bridges. Stuck around for something like an hour, some of which was spent mocking the various products in the tacky-ass gift shop. Do you really want to send someone a postcard with a picture of the World Trade Center with the subline "1973-2001?" How about a book, "History of the World Trade Center," the latter half of which is entirely pictures and patriotic fluff concerning 9/11, and the former half of which contains lines that basically say "The World Trade Center was really impressive when it was still standing, but now it is gone?" Tacky, depressing, and not exactly the kind of thing you want to see plastered everywhere when you're on the 86th floor.
    * A complete survey of the massive Toys 'R' Us in Herald Square. Really, quite a big facility, though its selection of Star Wars Legos was sadly lacking (I swear I would not actually have bought any, regardless of selection... okay, maybe an Imperial Shuttle). They also have a Ferris Wheel. Yes, you read correctly. Shannon: "The line's too long! Well, I'd be the oldest person on it anyway."
    * Ducking into any number of stores with air conditioning when the outside became too oppressive. This included CVS, the Gap, and Duane Reade, the latter two of which were two of the four stores that combined to be on just about every block. The other two were Starbucks (natch) and Blimpie. This became a running joke, particularly with Duane Reade as I saw about four in the span of three blocks at one point, not to mention the sign in the plenty sizeable DR one block from Times Square - "Also see our Times Square location" or words to that effect.
    * Planet Hollywood t-shirt impulse buy, because I always get those and Hard Rock shirts when opportunity presents itself. Regrettably, I did not go into ESPN Zone, because yeah right, like I'm going to drag Shannon into ESPN Zone. Three minutes in she would have been sneaking away and hailing a cab.
    So anyway, we finally get to Central Park, and it starts raining like ten minutes later. Fan-fucking-tastic. We dash off to 57th Street station. Shannon goes back to Queens and I take the W to 34th, where I then have to go outside to get to the Path at 33rd. This turns out to be quite an ordeal, as I'm not familiar with its location. I come outside at 34th and 6th, and go down a block. Nothing, so I start heading east. I get all the way to 33rd and between fucking Madison and Park before it occurs to me that hey, maybe it's not this way. I call my mom from a pay phone and ask her where it is. Turns out it's at 32nd and 6th. So rather than walking two blocks in a fair rain (semi-acceptable), I end up alternating between running and walking for a total of more like fifteen. Great. But if you think about how wet I could have gotten had it been completely pouring instead of just raining at a moderate clip, I sort of won.
    Got back to Mountain Station at 8, just as the rain picks up again. Fortunately running to the car (and subsequently from the car to the house) isn't much of a distance. Thus ended my day, which featured almost ten hours of out-of-house time, possibly as much as I'd previously left the house all summer. Good times, though my feet now hurt. With any luck we'll do it again sometime (though having exhausted 7th Avenue, we may have to walk up a different street and go into different air conditioned establishments).

June 26, 2002

Finally, after almost two weeks, a new dream entry. Why haven't there been more? Well, for one thing I haven't been remembering nearly as much, but also the ones I have remembered really have no way of being explained in words. I hope someday they invent a device that can turn brain waves into visual images, so I can see what my dreams look like outside my head. I bet it'd be weird.

June 25, 2002

Whoa, another new movie review. I spoil you people. Of course, it being summer, I always try and see more - though, it being summer, most of what's out is absolute scheiße (my apologies for using that word twice in four days).

June 25, 2002

Germany-South Korea. Boy, who do you root for in that one? My dad was staunchly anti-German, and I was rooting vaguely for Korea because they were the underdog, but to tell the truth I only really rooted for Korea once (when I had to, against Portugal), and the way they were handed both the Italy and Spain games - particularly the latter - really kind of ticked me off. Of course, Germany got the benefit of more calls in both this game and the U.S. game, but a) unlike in the U.S. game, Germany actually deserved to win this one in terms of quality of play, and b) Germany wasn't completely handed those games by having several opposition goals called back. On the other hand, if Brazil beats Turkey, the final will be played between two teams who have seven Cups between them. How enticing. Did you know only seven teams have ever won a World Cup? It's true. Brazil's got 4 (1958, 1962, 1970, and 1994), Germany 3 (1954, 1974, and 1990), Italy 3 (1934, 1938, and 1982), Uruguay 2 (1930 and 1950), Argentina 2 (1978 and 1986), England one (1966), and France one (1998). And both England and France needed the home field to do it. Actually, the only team up there who won all of its Cups on foreign soil is Brazil (in order: Sweden, Chile, Mexico, and the U.S.), which blew the only Cup in Brazil to Uruguay in 1950.
It's tough to root for Brazil against Turkey by virtue of the former's four Cups, but on the other hand, you've gotta figure Brazil has a better chance of beating Germany (although, hey, if Turkey can beat Brazil, why couldn't they beat anyone?), and Brazil, despite being so dominant, is more likable than Germany.

Anyway, now that I've finished the latest World Cup rant, you can read my comments on books I've read so far this summer. As my next project is the ponderous Pickwick Papers, don't expect this page to be updated too soon.

June 22, 2002

   Finally got around to re-updating the buttons so the clean-shaven Flax appears (after all, I haven't been bearded since January and, more importantly, don't plan on being so again anytime soon, if ever). I think I got them all, but if in your travels around the site (and here I refer primarily to Drew and Chris, who are most known for this sort of thing) you see a link button featuring the beard (this does not include the Beard History button, which no, has still not been updated to say "2001-2002" and probably won't be because I won't bother updating the page), let me know which one so I can correct it. Hopefully this won't happen.
    However, if you think the addition of new buttons means there's any new content, you are grossly mistaken! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
    Hmm. I'd say "I should provide new content to keep people coming back," but the only people who ever complain seem to keep coming back anyway, and the kind of content I put up isn't likely to draw too many return visitors from people who aren't personal friends of mine. Or maybe it is. Of course, most niche humor sites, the kind most likely to rise from obscurity, have more popular niches than "things about Flax" and of course are far funnier. At any rate, I may start putting up a page with capsule reviews of all the books I'm reading this summer. That ought to bore more people than ever before.

June 21, 2002

Saw Minority Report today. Review ahoy. Also, this page is more popular than I thought: Mike today copied me a message from one of the Loyola QB team reading: "well, Pam was declared Most Attractive Woman in Quiz Bowl on bigflax." The proverbial cat is out of the bag! Or whatever. At any rate, should anyone be reading this and quietly cursing my name, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that that is in fact a compliment, rather than damning with faint praise like it might seem.

June 21, 2002

Still sore, though not as much. Unfortunately, ibuprofen doesn't seem to be helping, and I can't put off the next round of exercise much longer. Watching the U.S. go out 1-0 to Germany didn't help matters. It was a pretty exciting game for us to watch, sort of the antithesis of watching Mexico: we did most of the attacking, while Germany waited for counterattacks to exploit our defense, which played well but did tend to come pretty far up at times. Germany's size was also a problem, though to be fair the U.S. really should have won - the free kick that Germany's header goal resulted from was barely a penalty if at all, and the U.S. had a ball that snuck past Oliver Kahn knocked off the goal line by an intentional unintentional handball (the defender didn't move his arm at the ball once it got there, but he did stick it out to make himself wider). Still, the U.S. scared the scheiße out of the Germans, which has to at least be a step forward, given what a heavy favorite the Germans were (hmm, the three-time winners vs. the team that went last in 1998?). We probably should have won, and it was disappointing to watch our attacks fall short, but I'm proud anyway.

June 20, 2002

Okay, now I am sore, and have been since sometime yesterday. The most probable reason for this is that my dad somehow forgot how long it had been and that even though I could do a fair amount of weight back then, I probably either needed to do a) even less weight than I did or b) fewer exercises. At any rate I'm sore in the biceps in both arms, plus my pecs (which I don't remember hurting last year). And gosh, not that I ever use these muscles! They now hurt incredibly whenever they are used at all, which includes moving my arms and walking up and down stairs. So, uh, yeah. With any luck they'll have eased up by tomorrow (as the consumption of enough ibuprofen to sedate small animals hasn't yet helped) enough so that I can go back to the gym and start this torture all over again.

In massively unrelated news, I also started my summer reading program with the purchase of five books: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart; Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers; Philip K. Dick's Time Out of Joint and Minority Report, the latter of which I'm avoiding until I've seen the movie lest I ruin it; and finally Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I'm somewhat embarrassed (depending on whether I'm talking to someone like Owen or someone like my sister) to say I'd never read. I say "I'd" and not "I've" because it was the first book I picked up and I have, being me, already finished it. It's clever and interesting and funny - unfortunately it's only rarely all three at the same time (though it's usually at least two - the only real problem is that the "interesting" bits can be a tad dry), but it was still a good read. Now I have to go buy the other four books in what the cover of the book describes as "the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy." Next up will probably Time Out of Joint. Other books that may make their way onto the summer reading list, depending on how fast I read (I see no reason why I couldn't finish at least a book a day if I set aside such days solely for reading, eating, and sleeping), are: The Brothers Karamazov (a Cyrillic edition of which I saw in Borders today, and was gratified to note that I could still read words if not understand them); something by George Eliot, most likely Middlemarch; something by Hemingway; something by D.H. Lawrence, most likely Sons and Lovers; something by Sinclair Lewis; Nabokov's Pale Fire; something (possibly several things) by Vonnegut; and either the Divine Comedy or the Inferno, I haven't decided yet. If you've got opinions on these books, let me know; if you think there are other classics of world literature or even in the contemporary realm that I should be reading, feel free to let me know. I probably won't take them or even care, but you can pretend your opinion was important, which is always a nice thought to have. (If you're wondering how I came to these choices, by the way, I basically just walked around the "Literature" section at Borders and noted what sounded interesting. Then of course I only ended up buying five books, three of which actually came from the "Science Fiction" section, but that's because my mom assured me we had most of the others at home as it was.)

June 18, 2002

Please help me, as I believe I no longer have arms. Worked out today for the first time in more than nine months... ouch. I'm not sore yet, but I'm sure it's coming. (The workout was after 30 minutes on the exercise bike at home, too.) Right now I'm just flailing around like someone with no skeletal system.
Started off with the ab machine, which I fought through 30 reps on. Reminding my dad not to overwork me, I pointed out that it had been a long time since I'd worked out. "You'll probably be sore tomorrow," he said. I agreed, and he grinned at me. "That's why they invented ibuprofen."

June 17, 2002

New quote additions. One on the Quiz Bowl page (quite possibly the last Selvey will ever get), plus amazing new never-before-seen LOST QUOTES! One from Mark Witte (it's at the top of the page), and two from Media Contexts professor Paul McEwan on the 2001-2002 page, which you'll have to find for yourself. More quotes, from classes in spring quarter '02, will be on the way soon.

June 17, 2002

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

     It's 4:30 in the morning in the East and I've just witnessed the greatest soccer game in United States history: a 2-0 "upset" (depends on who you call, really - though everyone in Mexico is pretty stunned right now) of previously unbeaten Mexico in the World Cup's round of 16. Two awesome goals by arguably the two best scorers on Team USA - Brian McBride in the 8th and Landon Donovan's header in the 65th - and a whole lot of dirty play. Five yellow cards a side (though the United States' were way sketchier than any of Mexico's) and a red card to Mexico. A very physical game, certainly, but I think the U.S. played that way because they knew they had to - I hadn't seen them play like this before, possibly costing them against a far more physical South Korean squad. Mexico, on the other hand, was a dirtbag factory. Diving on the slightest contact (only once resulting in a yellow card, but you're more likely to see cards on dives in the box, which that was) and all kinds of cheap shots (including a headbutt with no attempt to play the ball that resulted in the red) appear to be standard operating procedure for Mexico, at least against their "bitter rival," but all it got them was way more calls than it should have. Regardless, no goals allowed (first US World Cup shutout since blanking England in Brazil in 1950) and a trip to the quarterfinals (last - and only - time: 1930, back when the round of eight was the first knockout stage): tasting pretty sweet. We'd definitely have the day off tomorrow if this were Senegal.
    Time to preview the next game, which I will be watching - against Germany, Friday morning at 7:30 (so I think I'll be getting up for that rather than staying up, although the 2:30 game is England-probably Brazil, which is moderately tempting). The Germans blasted Saudi Arabia 8-0, then came back to Earth, giving up a stoppage-time goal to Ireland for a 1-1 tie and then knocking out Cameroon 2-0. They may have worn themselves out a bit in the latter game, as they only scraped past a Paraguayan team that was, in all fairness, one of the weakest to advance, 1-0 with a goal in the 88th. Had Paraguay been better offensively, they could well have taken the game. Of course, Germany will have more rest than the U.S. when Friday rolls around, but three full days off ought to be plenty for the Americans. Not to say that the U.S., an upstart as far as international competition goes, is going to win, but they should definitely be able to keep themselves in the game and maybe pull the surprise. Really, I can see it breaking a lot like the Mexico game, albeit probably with fewer fouls. If the U.S. can keep the Germans out of the net, play good defense, and then put a few solid attacks together and finish a couple of them, they could well slip into the semifinals - which would just be incredible. Should the U.S. do the previously unthinkable and make the final four, Spain or the South Korea-Italy winner would wait. Imagine, the U.S. could play South Korea again - this time in Seoul. Holy crap. Of course, South Korea has to get past a couple of pretty good teams first, not to mention what the U.S. has to do... but hey, it could happen.
    Okay, sleep time. Woo.

June 15, 2002

   Wow, back in New Jersey for the summer. Already I get the feeling it's going to be incredibly boring. Fortunately I've at least got a mission to accomplish (if I don't do anything else, I'm at least going to begin to get into shape), but it'll only be made all the easier by the fact that I probably won't see too many of my friends, as not all of them are even in town. At least there's August's planned road trip.
    World Cup commentary. When I arrive to a game ten minutes late and the U.S. is already down 2-0, there are problems. I didn't see the disallowed goal, so I can't comment, but my dad said it was pretty bad. At any rate, I would rather have slept two more hours than gotten up for that stinker of a game. The U.S. really only looked good when they were scoring their goal (already down 3-0, of course) and maybe a couple other attacking times, but even though they controlled time of possession, they really controlled it in the midfield. Conversely, Poland had the ball way less but was usually attacking, which made for some pretty nerve-wracking moments.
    Fortunately, South Korea won, so the U.S. will live to play another day, though as they appear to have been getting progressively worse - and I could argue they've really only played one actually impressive half all tournament - they may not last long in the Round of 16, where they have to play Mexico. I'll be watching that game, so expect another report.
    On the good news front, though, Jeff Agoos' injury will keep him out of the rest of the World Cup. I feel bad for the guy - first World Cup despite having more caps than anyone but Cobi Jones, and then he becomes the biggest goat in U.S. Cup history - but he was responsible, at least partly, for four of the six goals the U.S. allowed. Not really so good there, Jeff. Just be glad you don't live in Colombia.
    Of course, this U.S. first round reminds me a lot of '94. There was the shocking win (over Colombia 2-1 then, Portugal 3-2 now), the hard-fought tie (Switzerland then, South Korea now, both 1-1), and the loss to a country in Eastern Europe (Romania 1-0 then, Poland 3-1 now). If the U.S. second round resembles that one, the U.S. may win, because they played eventual winner Brazil very tight, only losing 1-0. This Mexico team is good, but not '94 Brazil good (not even '98 or '02 Brazil good).
    In other good news, England won 3-0. They're looking good. Unfortunately, they get Brazil (barring a stunning upset by Belgium - how did they score three goals against Russia?) in the quarters, so that may be it. Brazil is sure looking like the favorites right now.

June 12, 2002

   Grah, fucking sleep schedule. Here's the basic idea: "You're not going to fall asleep at night before your final because you're not tired enough. Naturally as soon as morning comes you'll be completely wiped. You'll get through your final, though it's pretty easy, and then be utterly ready to die the rest of the day. Then you'll fall asleep around 3:30 and wake up at 9."
    My only hope is that this dearth of sleep will enable me to go back to sleep around 11 or 12 and wake up early in the morning, thus something normalizing me. If not, well, trouble ahead, trouble behind, and I think this notion just crossed my mind.
    In other news, the latest forum post = hilarious. I salute you, whoever you are (Rich speculates Red Dog Rob, which I can totally buy).

June 12, 2002

Why is it that when I want to fall asleep, i.e. at night, I can't, but then as soon as morning rolls around I'm ready to pass out?
As long as I'm asking questions, why is a goal scored in first-half stoppage time always scored in the "45th minute" but a goal scored in second-half stoppage time can be scored in the "92nd minute?" I know the second half begins at 45:01, but why?

June 11, 2002

Uh, I've got some spoilers...

Also, new dreams and IMs.

June 10, 2002

The following message directed at someone who is not you, unless you are Redd.
If you read the site more, you'd have seen the May 22 update, which covered every movie in June and July, albeit briefly. Making the Movies to See page fully detailed takes more time than I have to put into it right now. Deal.

June 10, 2002

   Yeah, yeah, I know. But I was up anyway writing a paper, so why the heck not? Plus I definitely wasn't missing the U.S. game for anything. Very quick thoughts (as I'm about to collapse):
    * South Korea sucks. They played dirty all game, got all the calls, and capped off their tying goal (which came as a result of a free kick on yet another iffy call) with a classless bit of speed skating pantomime. Jesus, get over it. I hope Portugal wins 8-0 on Friday.
    * Belgium-Tunisia was ridiculous. Just when I thought "Belgium-Tunisia is like watching a good college team play a good high school team," Tunisia tied it and proceeded to be the only team that threatened to score for the rest of the game. Let it never said that Belgium has much resembling an offense.
    * Portugal is back, baby. It was tight for a while until it transpired that Poland really isn't all that good. Then Pauleta scored a hat trick, which pretty much wrapped it up. Also, notch an assist for Figo, my and Drew's new favorite player. (Does anyone know where I can get a Team Portugal replica Figo jersey?)

June 8, 2002

Now I understand why Evanston hates us. We use their emergency resources, like the fire department, and for what? Today the alarm went off because someone put a bag of popcorn in the microwave for five minutes. They sent three fire trucks! And all they found was some smoke, if that, disproving the old adage that "where there's smoke, there's fire." Now, "where there's fire, there's smoke," I've found that to be true pretty much every time. Anyway. I was forced to go outside without having showered, which was iffy, but no one here knows me anyway. Ahhh. Already getting pumped for next year at Kemper (where I'm currently spending plenty of time as it is), when I'll actually have friends around.
The one upside to the drill was that the girl who caused it was pretty hot. Not an upside per se, but at least it gave me something to do while I was waiting to get back in. (Note: I'm really not as much of a dirtball as that makes it seem.)

June 7, 2002

   Last night. I did promise, and I'm a man of my word. Plus I do actually have work to do now that the week has ended. Regrettably, I will probably not be able to watch the U.S. play South Korea on Monday morning, depending on when my paper gets done, and I'm pretty sure I won't get to see them play Poland Friday morning as I'll likely be on my way home. Assuming the U.S. wins one of those two - a decent bet, though certainly no guarantee - they'll be into the second round, where, unless South Korea wins out or Portugal beats Poland and South Korea or something really unlikely happens with Poland, the U.S. could be the first-place finisher in Group D. This would pit them against a Group G team, either Croatia, Mexico, or Ecuador, as I feel free to make the assumption that Italy will finish first in that group. It really does behoove the U.S. to win Group D rather than finish second, because the second-place team will be facing Italy (again, most likely) and that doesn't seem like a game the U.S. wants to play. Say they get Croatia/Mexico/Ecuador and win. What's next? The bracket shakedown points to Spain, but knowing how they manage to underachieve it could be whichever team scrapes out second in Group E - which of Germany, Cameroon, and Ireland are going to advance is anyone's guess right now. If they somehow get past that, they'd end up - this is where the World Cup doesn't seem to have thought out the bracketing - playing a team from the B-D-E-G groups, just like they had in every previous round. While it's most likely that they wouldn't end up playing the other team from their group, it's possible, which seems kind of weak to me - they should switch the groups up so everyone is better mixed in the single elimination rounds.
    At any rate, I'm going to try and watch every 7:30 game once I'm home, plus the 7:00 final, plus all U.S. games past the first round, if any. Right now, here are the games I could be seeing:
    6/15: Denmark/Senegal vs. Group of Death runner-up. It could still be France or Uruguay in the Group A winner's spot, but that seems unlikely based on play. The G.O.D. runner-up could be any of the three teams still alive - Sweden, England, or Argentina.
    6/16: Spain vs. Germany/Cameroon/Ireland. Spain appears to have Group B locked up, while the two Group E spots are still anyone's.
    6/17: Brazil vs. Russia/Japan/Belgium. I'm going to go out on a limb and pick Brazil to win Group C - Costa Rica's dangerous, but let's be serious here. As for Group H, who knows what the hell's going on over there. After Saturday and Sunday's games we should have a better idea.
    6/18: U.S./South Korea vs. Mexico/Ecuador/Croatia. With any luck, the U.S. will win Group D, enabling me to see them then (otherwise, if they do advance, I'm watching them at 2:30 on 6/17), but you never know. Anyone could still win this group, but the U.S. and Korea have advantages because they've already won. As for the Group G runner-up, it could be anyone, though may be more likely to be Mexico or Ecuador - so this could be a CONCACAF showdown if the U.S. and Mexico end up in it.
    6/21: Quarterfinals. The U.S. could end up in this game if they finish second in Group D and then win their first elimination game. Among the teams that might face off: Germany, Ireland, Cameroon, Paraguay, South Africa vs. Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Poland, the U.S. In fact, Italy is a pretty good bet to appear in this game. I haven't seen them play yet, but Jan suggested to me that they looked most impressive of any team in the opening games, so that would be cool.
    6/22: Quarterfinals. Among the teams that might face off: England, Argentina, Sweden, Denmark, Senegal, Uruguay, France vs. Japan, Belgium, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey, Costa Rica.
    6/25: Semifinals. Can't be bad.
    6/26: Semifinals. Can't be bad.
    6/29: Third place. Nothing wrong with that.
    6/30: Final. Bitchin'.

    Anyway, as this update is already hideously long and pointlessly detailed, quick thoughts on the last full night of World Cup soccer (ah, for 2006, when Germany will be only 7 or 8 hours ahead and I can watch games starting at 8 or 9:30... of course, I'll probably have a job then):
    * Everyone thought Nigeria was going to be really flashy and Sweden really boring. And they weren't entirely wrong, but I think Sweden is way more talented than anyone really realizes. Henrik Larsson is a goal-scoring machine. Of course, a lot of the Nigerians are only 17, so they'll be back - but it sucks for them to be eliminated already. Still, England had better watch out Wednesday in Osaka - they can be in the driver's seat of the group if they beat the Super Eagles, as Argentina-Sweden ought to be a dogfight. If they overlook Nigeria, though, trouble ahead.
    * Considering that Spain really scored all four goals in their 3-1 defeat of Paraguay (Carles Puyol's own goal in the 10th was really one of Paraguay's best chances), they're looking good to win Group B, which they'll wrap up if South Africa does not win tomorrow. At any rate they've clinched a second round appearance, which is nice for them because they so often underachieve in World Cups. This match was fun to watch because both teams looked so technically proficient - passing was crisp, both teams were fast, and there weren't that many stoppages. The real problem was that after the own goal, Paraguay, which had been controlling the tempo and attacking, got back on its heels, and ended up letting Spain spend the whole second half shooting. This was essentially the same problem they had against South Africa, although at least there it got them a draw.
    * England-Argentina, I have to say, lived up to the hype. Okay, the English spent the last 20 minutes letting the Argentinians shoot as much as they wanted, which was problematic although not fatal, but I guess they figured they could do that. What I found interesting was how bad this match made Argentina look. They came in as one of the favorites - ranked #2 in the world (the English are 12th, making this something of an upset, particularly after England only managed a draw with #19 Sweden) - yet they never seemed very threatening on offense and their defense, while relatively solid, proved that it can be beaten by quick players. Trevor Sinclair and Michael Owen, particularly the latter, frequently outran defenders, and Owen abused the defense several times, once drawing a penalty kick, and once taking three defenders at once only to bang one off the post. (Speaking of which, does anyone know where I can get a replica Michael Owen jersey? Team England would be the best, although I'd take a Liverpool one as well.) Meanwhile, the English seemed to win the ball most of the time, and neither Batistuta nor Crespo ever seemed very effective. There's nothing like seeing proven goal-scorers be totally frustrated like that.
    At any rate, a good set of games to go out on. I wish I could watch more of the first round, but it wasn't really meant to be. I'll keep checking the scores, though, and I'm looking forward to getting back in the game when the second round starts.
    Now for the next question: how long do I sleep today?

June 6, 2002

   I swear I'll only do this one more time. Regrettably, I won't be able to once I get home because there's no way my parents are letting me pull 6 pm-9 am waking hours, unless maybe I get a night job, which won't be happening. Fortunately there will be a bunch of 7:30 games, plus the final is at 7:00, so I may actually be able to wake up for those, particularly since I shouldn't be keeping long night hours and I'll be in the Eastern time zone. At any rate, tonight/tomorrow morning is the last time I'm pulling this, because I refuse to miss England-Argentina but I recognize that I can't keep doing this when finals come along.
    Anyway. I can offer some insight, having watched Denmark-Senegal and France-Uruguay this morning (along with Cameroon-Saudi Arabia, a match that had to be closer than anyone figured), into how Senegal was able to beat France. Ready?
    France has nothing resembling an attack. Despite controlling the ball in a 56-44 ratio, the French were rarely able to put together a decent scoring chance, to the extent that they only managed five or six shots on net despite spending most of the game in the midfield and their attacking third. Meanwhile, the Uruguayans scared the shit out of the French on several occasions, with several chances that Fabien Barthez was forced to make some awesome saves on. (The result of all this? Scoreless tie.) The French controlled the tempo of the game, yet allowed the Uruguayans to break free a few times. My dad will understand that it was like watching a Devils game - even though the Devils control most of the game, they'll have little lapses here and there that will result in goals and see them lose a 2-0 game where they outshot the opponents 40-17.
    France didn't give up a goal, at least, but credit much of that to Barthez, although they dodged a real bullet when he inexplicably came way out of net, was beaten by the Uruguayan attacker, and then lucked out when the attacker misfired into the side of the goal. Meanwhile, the French couldn't even get decent looks on eight or nine corner kicks - when they actually got their heads on the ball, they shot way over.
    Meanwhile, Senegal looked great against Denmark. Yeah, they tied 1-1, but Senegal really looked like the better team, with their fast pace boggling the more methodical Danes (a contrast in styles we should see again tonight when Sweden and Nigeria face off). The Danes went up 1-0 on a penalty kick in the 16th, scored by - who else? - Jon Dahl Tomasson, but it was a bad foul for Senegal because I don't think Tomasson could have scored from the angle he was at when he was fouled. Senegal blew a couple of wide open chances after tying it in the 52nd and could easily have won, whereas Denmark looked largely overmatched and confused all game and didn't get off too many good chances at goals.
    France won't have Thierry Henry when they play Denmark - automatic suspension for his red card in the Uruguay match, though it was pretty sketchy and was followed by two spikes by Uruguay that were both worse yet received one yellow card total - but they're supposed to have Zidane back. Good - I'm not sure it's Zidane's scoring they've missed - though with zero goals so far, they're on pace to do even worse than the U.S.'s 1998 performance - but more his playmaking ability. If there was anyone on the pitch who could have handled that burden, it was Henry, but he was sent off in the 26th (playing a man down for 66 minutes didn't help much either) - or maybe Djibril Cisse, but he wasn't even brought in until the 80th.
    Anyway, can you tell I'm getting into this? Tonight's/tomorrow morning's three matches should all be pretty good - I haven't seen a bad one yet, though I'd like to avoid any more nil-nil draws if possible - so that's a bonus. And hey, England-Argentina. Who could ask for anything more?

June 5, 2002

   Just made my most frequent pilgrimage - the walk from Kemper to Hinman - after watching the U.S. upend Portugal in their first World Cup game, 3-2, surviving an own goal after putting up three goals in the first 36 minutes to lead 3-0 and then 3-1 at halftime. A stunning result - even more so considering two of the best Americans were out - and just damn fun to watch.
    This after turning the Russia-Tunisia game on 55 minutes in and scoreless, only to see the Russians put up two goals in the next ten minutes. So yes, it's 6:20 in the morning, yes, I've been up all night, and no, I don't regret it one bit.
    I told Paulionis tonight, I'd sort of like to live in Britain for a while just so I can get swept up in the soccer - sorry, football - there. I really do enjoy watching the sport - more so than most Americans, I suspect - and tonight (this morning?) just reinforced that for me. It's awfully tempting now to stay up for other games. Hey, it's Reading Week - I'd be up anyway, albeit not that late. Plus, look at the schedule: Denmark-Senegal and France-Uruguay tomorrow morning, plus Spain-Paraguary, Sweden-Nigeria, and the coup de grace, Argentina-England, on Friday morning. So, so tempting. I may have to watch Argentina-England even if I skip the rest of them. Plus Monday morning the U.S. plays again - I don't know if I can miss that. I know I'll end up not seeing most of the games, at least the really good ones, simply because I'll be home and unable to maintain ludicrous sleeping patterns based on my agreement with my parents that, this summer, I would not maintain ludicrous sleeping patterns.
    Bah. If you don't understand where I'm coming from on this, read Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. And if you do, read it anyway.
    Anyway, if I go to bed now, I can still get eight hours of sleep and wake up at three - and since it's the first day of Reading Week, I'd be getting up then regardless of when I went to bed. Plus consider that if this were Senegal, the whole country would have the day off.

June 4, 2002

If you haven't yet checked out the trailer for Road to Perdition, you owe it to yourself to click here. It's got Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, and Jude Law in it, plus a good supporting cast, plus it opens on July 12 and it is not your typical midsummer movie. Plus the trailer is awesome. This may be the best trailer I've seen since Finding Forrester, and this one doesn't give away 95% of the movie. It's an incredible use of music - even if the movie ends up underwhelming, the trailer is looking like the best of the year (and we all know how much I love trailers). At any rate, it's totally sold me on seeing the movie, which (see May 22 update) I was a bit ambivalent about before.
In other movie news, Katie Holmes had better watch out before she turns into a latter-day Demi Moore or something (observe more clothes coming off); Moonlight Mile could be awesome and ought to be an acting class even if it's not (and provides us with another pretty sweet trailer); and just kill me now.

June 3, 2002

You know, this month celebrates the two-year anniversary of my decision, starting June 1, 2000, to switch the page to its current format. Hard to believe it's been that long, isn't it? That actually goes all the way back before high school graduation... and I could hardly feel any more distant from my high school career than I already do.

    In other news, I think it's safe to say Ben Folds has moved into the #3 spot on my list of favorite artists, behind the Beatles and Blink. This includes his work with the Five, it should be mentioned. Now I just need to build up my collection, which shouldn't be too hard - he's only got six CDs out there, and I think I may avoid Fear of Pop for the time being... that said, here's the order in which I plan on buying them (in case you want to get one for me...):
    1. Rockin' the Suburbs
    2. Whatever and Ever Amen
    3. Naked Baby Photos
    4. Ben Folds Five
    5. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
More on this story as it develops. Ha. While we're at it, Ric wanted to know what my favorite BF/F songs were - it's pretty hard to nail them down, I must say. Here's the top ten list I hammered out at the movie theater before Insomnia, subject to all kinds of changes.
    1. Still Fighting It
    2. Battle of Who Could Care Less
    3. Philosophy
    4. Emaline
    5. Gone
    6. Eddie Walker
    7. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
    8. Not the Same
    9. Rockin' the Suburbs
    10. Underground
Even since I made that list (all of two days ago), I'd say Underground may have moved up... but I'm not exactly doing a big time countdown here, so I don't feel like editing it right now. Deal with it.

June 3, 2002

I swear the NBA is fixed. Yes, the Kings gave the ball to the wrong people at the end of Game Seven, but there's no way they should have lost Game Six in the first place. None. But do you really think David Stern wanted to see a Kings-Nets finals? It must be bad enough having the Nets in there. And if you think the Nets are winning the series, think again - there'll have to be a drastic change in the way the officials have treated the Nets. All season, even at home, where they still managed to go 33-8, the Nets have been screwed by the officials. Even against crappy teams. And these are the Lakers. Guh. I at least hope the Nets take it six... it'll be downright disgraceful to see this series end in four because there's no way the Lakers are actually that dominant - the Kings proved that, if nothing else.

Here also, the latest movie review, for Insomnia, Christopher Nolan's Memento follow-up.

June 1, 2002

   Finally back (5:18 am) after a long day. Much of the time was spent chilling at Kemper, but the bulk of Friday afternoon and evening was spent at DePaul for the Ben Folds show. I was close to not going just because I'm running short on cash at the end of the quarter, but it did only cost ten bucks, after all - and well worth it.
    He had the sheer balls to open with "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces." And he certainly had a million songs he could follow with. The rest of the set: "Zak and Sara," "Annie Waits," "Eddie Walker," "The Secret Life of Morgan Davis," "Battle of Who Could Care Less," "Philosophy," "Kate," "Selfless, Cold, and Composed," "The Last Polka," "Fred Jones Part 2," "Rockin' the Suburbs," "Army," "Not the Same," "Emaline," and "Song for the Dumped" (now in a minor key). In other words, all your favorite hits. Songs I was most disappointed to have not heard: "Gone" and "Still Fighting It," though the latter might have seemed out of place in what was, aside from a couple of slower numbers like "Fred Jones," a pretty damn rocking set. He really did rock us well.
    Best moments: Ben introducing "Philosophy" with "This is the Thong Song"; Ben playing the musical cue used to announce the trolley on Mr. Rogers when an El train passed by in the background (as the tracks were really right behind the field); Chris referring to some of the less attractive girls in the Beer Garden as "leathery skanks."
    I was pleased to see the Nets won when I got back, although I managed to catch the end of the Lakers game, which if nothing else affirms that the Finals are at least partially fixed. Nets-Kings is too small-market, so the Lakers must be made to win. To quote Bill Simmons, I can't even talk about this rationally.

There's more! View last month's updates.

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This page last updated: Friday, November 22, 2002 06:11:33 AM