06/30/02

Another World Cup is over with Brazil as worthy champions. Despite the late nights and early mornings, it was an interesting tournament with some good games, but very few classic ones. Anyway, here's a list of highlights for me:

• England's first half against Denmark.
• USA's first half against Portugal.
• The fact that there were players called both Butt and Arce.
• The Japanese and Korean fans.
• The most unlikely Japanese-sounding name ever: Alex.
• Old dudes with mullets.
• Beckham's penalty against Argentina.
• Germany actually fielding a black player... and about time too!
• This photo.

06/28/02

How fucked up you are!

06/24/02

Yet again I'm going to plagiarize Poindexter and do what he did on his site. Basically, you go to Google and type in "(your name) is" and see what occurs. These are some of my favorites from the first handful of results:

Marty is one of the most respected and distinguished church scholars in the country.
Marty is convinced: In order to remain transformative, a labyrinth must be walked.
Marty is resigned to listening to people ask when he is getting married: I met your mother in a fruit store.
Marty is the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago.
Marty is in trouble!
Marty is, sadly still a Rocker, and Shawn is a main eventer!
Marty is well-known for his achievements and vision.
Marty is touring non-stop until next March.
Marty is highly respected for her thorough understanding of Internet trends and their impact on business models.
Marty is the murderer. Mulder, however, is plagued with doubt. Scully offers a possible explanation...
Marty is fighting in Congress for the passage of a real Patients' Bill of Rights.
The population of Marty is approximately 436.

In other exciting news, I achieved my first Turkey ever in bowling last night. One day I'll have to try for a Dutch 200 (I wish) or maybe even a Four Bagger. A Six-pack would be awesome, but I'm more likely just to achieve a bunch of Field Goals.

06/22/02

And of course, the very next day, Spain get knocked out on penalties by South Korea. This World Cup has been pretty topsy-turvy sometimes. South Korea, having beaten both Italy and Spain, must be feeling pretty confident now.

Woohoo! Another Nigerian Scam email reproduced here with spelling, punctuation, and grammar intact:

12 Allen Avenue Ikeja,
Lagos.

Dear Sir,

By way of introduction,my names are Abel Dinachi. I am almost certain that this mail will come to you as a surprise.Perhaps you are even annoyed at what you might call an invasion of your privacy with unsolicited mail.If you are,I appologise.

While I acknowledge the fact that we are strangers to each other which might be a good reason for you to possibly want to disregard this mail,I ask you to understand why it is very inescapable and pertinent that I make this contact with you in view of very pressing and urgent reasons.

Let me explain.I have an unspecified,but certainly a short period of time to relocate some money out of my place of abode and I am seeking your assistance.Specifically,I am seeking to explore possibility of your assistance by way of accepting to receive the money in your country or in any other country for safe keeping,at a fee to be negotiated.

For security and confidential reasons,I have refrained from disclosing details of the money to be relocated and I do hope you will understand.

If you consider this proposal acceptable,contact me immediately.Three stages of line of actions will follow subsequently viz;
1) We will initiate correspondences to try to explore possibility of working together.If we arrive at mutual understanding here,then the next stage below will follow,otherwise, all contacts will be discontinued.
2)Subject to stage one above,amount of money involved in the proposed money relocation and its location will be disclosed.If we can and will sustain our mutual understanding here,then third and final stage will follow,otherwise further contacts will be terminated.
3)All ancillary issues relating to the relocation including your fees and our meeting arrangement will be discussed.

Expecting your response urgently.

Abel.

06/21/02

Well, England scored first, and I thought it was going to be our night! But they wilted in the heat, and the Brazilians really showed them how to take their chances, keep possession, and most importantly, keep their composure. England just fell apart in this game, which was such a shame after playing so well previously. Still, they lost with pride and dignity, and should be proud of how well they did at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The U.S.A. also showed a lot of spirit and stamina, but the Germans finally overcame them in the end too. Brazil should really go on and win the tournament, but I have a sneaky suspicion this could be Spain's year...

06/18/02

I posted a bunch more photos in the Lomo section last week. I just forgot to link to them here. Oops. In the meantime, here are some of the black & white portraits I shot of Priscilla a week or so ago. Enjoy.

This is probably only funny if you're British.

The World Cup continues to surprise. South Korea beat Italy in the second round. Argentina, France, and Portugal didn't even advance, and either Senegal or Turkey will definitely find themselves in the semi-finals. If England can beat Brazil, they really do have their best chance in decades to win the tournament outright. England v USA final anybody?

06/16/02

Seems like there's been a lot of talk about the greatness of Y Tu Mamá También, and while it's certainly a good film, and much better than most major studio releases, it's not really a great film, in my humble opinion. That said, I still enjoyed it a lot more than most movies I've seen lately, it's just perhaps not the masterpiece a lot of folks have touted it to be.

06/15/02

For the first time in my life, at age 29, I finally ordered a McDonalds Happy Meal. I got a weird looking Lilo & Stitch bouncy, wobbly Stitch character gremlin-looking thing that stands on a surfboard and might be fun for my car's dashboard.

06/12/02

England may be through to the last 16 in the World Cup, but more importantly, my roommate Priscilla Ederle's album has just been released, and I'm going to shamelessly plug it right now with this big BUY THE DIAMOND FIELDS HERE link.

06/11/02

Au revoir la France! Vous ne serez pas manqués!

06/10/02

Another portraiture challenge. Again, the subject was my roommate Priscilla. This time we loaded up on T-Max 100 black & white and tried for the perfect portrait. The evening light was lovely, will the results be lovely too? Watch this space...

06/09/02

Here's some more new Lomo shots:

Reservoir Nuns?

The Golden Gate Bridge at dawn.

This bloke reminded me of Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) in Sexy Beast.

Need a drink?

"Yes, much fun we are having in the San Francisco SOMA"

More to come...

06/08/02

At last I have some new photos to post. I got back four rolls in the mail today from York Photo. Once again they did a great job, even though it took some time.

This first batch was taken with the Olympus XA4 around the beaches, cemeteries, and towns of Humboldt County, California:

Can you hear me mother?

Because one best friend is never enough...

First I was afraid, I was petrified.

Somebody still loves you, Henry.

Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Witness the power of the ocean winds.

A weeping cave.

There's a bunch more to come, mainly Lomo shots. I'll either post them later or perhaps save such joys for another day.

At long last, a massively extensive site redesign. Okay, I lie... I merely moved this blog onto the homepage and got rid of the clunky 'what's new' section. I wish I knew web design better because I had to go into every frickin' page and change the template...

06/07/02

Woohoo! England beat Argentina 1-0. Now, for once, they control their own destiny going into the final group match against Nigeria... a win and they're definitely through. This was one occasion I didn't mind waking up for at 4.25am!

06/05/02

Could the White Stripes be the greatest band in the world ever? No, seriously. I had the privilege of seeing them live last night at The Fillmore. I was amazed at how good their three albums were despite the hype surrounding them. Live, I wan't quite sure how well their sound would transfer. Well, what can I say? They were even better. Singer and guitarist Jack White is incredibly charismatic and full of energy, he has a fantastic 'rock voice', and I haven't seen such an impressive live band for many, many years. Highlights included a highly emotional cover of Jolene, and a thoroughly enchanting version of their song The Union Forever. It was one of those shows where I'm happy to brag and say "I was there". Huge thanks to Matt from Brendan Benson & The WellFed Boys for letting us get to see this gig... they also put on an excellent show.

Go USA! Beating Portugal in their first round World Cup match was quite an achievement... and the first 30 minutes when they went 3-0 up was pretty amazing, even at 2.30am when I was knackered from the White Stripes show...

More footy: I think the recent Adidas Footballitis commercial is great!

06/04/02

Picked up Waking Life on DVD in Blockbuster (bleugh) for a mere $12. I don't quite know what to make of this movie. I saw it last year on the big screen and decided it was perhaps a bad case of style over substance. However, I'm looking forward to viewing it again as I recall it had a kind of mesmerizing quality, and seeing as I don't take hallucinatory drugs anymore, this could be quite refreshing.

06/02/02

<begin footy rant>

It's hard enough staying awake until 4am just to watch the World Cup. It's even harder when you have to endure a lackluster second half from England. The 1-1 draw against Sweden is hardly the end of the world, but now England are going to have to pull out all the stops to qualify, and hope other results in the group go their way.

</end footy rant>

06/01/02

Fuck... that's the last time I let Robin Williams do my film developing.

I swear, the excitement never stops in San Carlos. Today there was a squirrel running around Albertson's.