Saturday, March 31, 2007

North Face jacket, again

So, for those who complained about the lack of pics in here.



This is me posing in front of Moscow State University (one of the seven sisters).

Again the North Face jacket saves me from the cold, just as it did in NY last December.

Friday, March 30, 2007

England are abysmal

I watched parts of England v Andorra, and most of Italy v Scotland this week. Two very bad games, which triggered a wave of the usual self-whipping articles in British media. "Why are we so crap" , "McClaren out", etc.

One of these was an unusually cheap article at GU Sports Blog (link here) which was just worth it for a spot-on comment from a guy called Chariostsofnandralone.

That's the ultimate beauty of blogging - comments that are often better argued, more entertaining reading than the posts themselves.

So I paste down here the guy`s comment. Enjoy.

The reason England can't play slow, measured, possession International football is the same reason Manchester United haven't been able to play the slow, measured, possession Champions League football SAFergie has wanted to since 1999. English football doesn't produce skilful enough players and the Premiership doesn't allow teams to play proper, skillful football.

It's no good kidding ourselves that Lampard, Neville (take your pick), Terry, Lennon, Owen, SWP, Johnson, even the oft-lauded Scholes and the rest have anything like the same individual ball control and passing skill as their Italian, Brazilian, French, Argentinian, Spanish and even Ghanaian or Mexican counterparts.

Without instantly controlling the ball, being comfortable in possession, keeping possession when in tight with the opposition, passing the ball between teammates without losing control English players lose that extra yard and split-second needed to outplay any decent opposition. When you lose posession carelessly in the Premiership you usually get the ball back a few seconds later.

Why do Chelsea and Arsenal and Liverpool buy so many non-English and non-Scottish players. It's not just because they're cheap.

Ray Wilkins has said when he trained with ACMilan back in the day, the game of passing the ball amongst a circle of players would go on forever until himself or Mark Hately in the middle kicked one of the Italian players. In England the ball is frequently mis-controlled or mis-hit and the player in the middle makes the interception.

Never was the gulf more evident than watching Italy-Scotland tonight (Scottish players suffer from exactly the same pell-mell style physical domestic football).
The gulf in individual skill level between the two teams was embarrasing. Every single Italian player looked like a top-class footballer, athletic, fit, comfortable in possession, balanced, two-footed.
For Scotland, apart from possibly Barry Ferguson, every player was a gawky, uncoordinated, clumsy and sometimes slow amateur in comparison who treated the football like some kind of slippery Mexican jumping bean to be chased with all their might but always just out of control. It looked like footballers in Scotland don't practice their ball skills in training but are introduced to an alien spherical object just before kick-off with the same effect as serving raw meat to starving lions in the Colliseum.
Brown, Miller - much perspiration but little skill - and the rest were all shown up by a brilliant 25 minute cameo from Del Piero, a proper footballer, just like the rest of the Italians.

As long as Premiership Academies keep emphasising the physical over the skillful throughout the age groups, there is no hope for England or Scotland.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Recommendation

When in the UK a couple of months ago I first heard Gnarls Barkley, which were kind of hyped there then.

Now I'm addicted. I'd say it adds the modernity and inventiveness of my beloved Flaming Lips with jazzy black vocals.

To know what I'm talking about, click here to check the videos of either Crazy or Smiley Faces in YouTube.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

McJob

Here is a link to a great discussion about McDonald's jobs, in the always excellent commentisfree section of Guardian Unlimited.

Best part is the comment of a guy called Unicycle Fascist who is actually defending McJobs, and spanking students of social studies on his way.

Monday, March 19, 2007

It's summertime

To my friend Roberto Sakura.

(The Flaming Lips)

It's summertime
and I can understand if you
still feel
sad…

It's summertime
and though it's hard to see its true
possibilities…

When you look inside - all you'll see...
When you look inside –
all you'll see is a self-reflected inner sadness!

Look outside!
I know that you'll recognize
it's summertime!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Gilberto Silva

Here is a link to an excellent wikipedia article (a featured article, by the way) about this outstanding character who is Gilberto Silva.

A model player, a model person, a pride to my country.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Authenticity

I have engaged on re-reading "On Writing Well" by william Zinsser, which I had taken a look at during universiity. Excellent book, a must-read for any prentense, amateur or wannabe writers like myself.

The book brings a series of commandments useful to any writer: avoid clatter; be authentic; be human. The last thing people need is a series of vague, long, unnecessary words that tell meaningless things.

There is also one powerful message in one of the earlier chapters: writing is not easy, It is hard, toiling, tense, and exasperating. Many people tend to think it is not, and therefore express the wish that they become writers "when they retire" - as if writing was a much less important profession than the others, as if anyone could become a proper writer at the flick of a finger.

I had not realized the power of that statement until a mundane event during dinner last night. I noticed that the starter I ordered was really good: a burrito made of bacon and aspargus. I thought, "hm, maybe next time I have a dinner at home I surprise my guests with this starter. Or, think about it, I can improve it, and make a prsociutto and aspargus burrito, with soy sauce..."

Stop. If you don't know me, I have never - ever - cooked a single meal that did not come out of the microwave or steam pot. Yet recently I have developed a sudden interest for cooking - some form of delirium which arose after watching too much Gordon Ramsay while in the UK. But who am I to think I can go on and create something nice to eat just because I had a whim of 'creativity'?

With writing is the same. Blogs accept anything (as a quick browse thorugh this one will show), but let's respect real writers. Non-fiction writing is a profession, a very difficult one. Fiction writing is a form of art, of craftmanship, and as any craftmanship it takes practice. Let us not fool ourselves that we are George Orwell. Or Will Zinsser.

So the blogger's challenge is to keep it real. Keep it authentic. Do whatever we do in life first, and when we write, let's not invent too much. Let's communicate. Let's be clear.

Anyway, just realized I had that moment of insight while eating an aspargus burrito in a self-proclaimed Argentine Steak House in Samara (interior of Russia), while a local singer went on, his guitar the only background, on a rendition of "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You" with a thick, nonchalant Russian accent.

Now talk about authenticity.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Championship

Seriously, now I've been following the English Second Division for a change. In the first division, it seems that Champions League places will eventually fall into the usual suspects, and relegation is waving very strongly to Watford, Charlton and West Ham, so the only race left is between Bolton - Spurs - Pompey - Reading - Blackburn - Everton for a Uefa Cup place - let's face it, not so thrilling.

In the Championship, on the other hand, things are much more contested.

First of all, only 8 points separate the top club now (Birmingham) from the 8th (Cardiff) - only 4 between 3rd placed West Brom and Cardiff.

Second, the season has seen many teams go up and down - though Birmingham and Derby have looked the most consistent (as also observed by Roy Keane), and Sunderland and Wolves are on the rise, in other times Preston, Cardiff and even Stoke and Colchester (now 9th and 10th) were the top tips.

Third, this season has seen some very exciting players - though I can only see hints of them at BBC Sport or at Cup matches, the most promising ones are David Nugent at Preston, Gareth Bale at Southampton, Steven Ward at Wolves, and four Arsenal academy graduates on loan: Larsson, Muamba and Bendtner at Birmingham, and Lupoli at Derby. Also worth mention are the experienced Trinidad pair of Dwight Yorke and Stern John at Sunderland.

Fourth, there are the "friendly managers" - it's always nice to follow Steve Bruce and Roy Keane venturing into coaches (though I'm not a United fan).

Well, to me, it is more interesting than the state leagues in Brazil this month. But many things are more interesting than state leagues. Not Big Brother, but many others.