Month: June 2010

Be scared rest of the world, I think the USA likes soccer now.

Life, Rants

This being world cup season I’ve been having a lot more conversations about Soccer than normal. I live in the DC area so there’s a pretty big international community that loves soccer (football). But the regular everyday Americans don’t seem to get it. Worse than that they don’t want to get it. I’ve come to the conclusion that arguing about why we don’t like Soccer is futile, It’s like arguing about which language is the best. The fact is that Americans don’t like Soccer because Americans don’t like Soccer. It’s not that the rules of the game are silly, or that diving influences the game too much, or that it will make our children into communists. It’s that not enough people like it for you to talk about it at a neighborhood BBQ. If you moved to Canada and all your friends were into Curling then you would talk about curling. There are a small number of Soccer fans in America and I think they’re growing.

For the last few weeks I’ve been hanging out with people who like soccer. Talking about formations and strategies. Discussing why we never seem to get any goals off corner kicks. Talking about whether Shaq could play Soccer, verdict:NO. It’s been awesome. Friends from High school and College getting together to support the US National Team. I was at a baseball game and the crowd cheered when they saluted the US team’s win over Algeria. A big cheer too! My only regret is that it ended too soon. With the level of competition, I don’t think they were going to make the final or anything. It would have been nice to see them advance. But I do really think that Soccer has made the next step in the US, at least World Cup soccer. I’d like to see if the MLS can get a bump from all this attention on some of their best players. I know I’m going to try to get to a DC United game this summer.

The 2014 World Cup Finals are in Brazil, which is much better for the US in terms of time zones. The games should be played in the afternoon or around prime time, I can’t wait for the excitement. It’s going to be BIG. But with the US eliminated I’ll have to find a new team to cheer. I think Germany looks good.

You can’t watch all these videos and tell me that something hasn’t started brewing.

USA CELEBRATES

Clients From Hell

Interests, Life

Me: ”I will create a login box on your website. Once someone registers and logs in, the website will recognize who the user is and provide relevant content.”

Client: ”That sounds great. However, instead of a login box I’d like to use biometrics to identify the user.”

Me: ”Not sure what you mean.”

Client: ”When someone visits the website, I want them to be able to put their hand on the monitor. The monitor will then scan their hand to confirm who they are. I think that would be a lot more engaging. How much extra would that functionality cost?”

Me: ”Several hundred million dollars.”

Client: Why are you being a wiseass? Can you do it or not?

Me: ”No. Sorry. That’s a little too advanced.”

Client: ”Fine. I’ll try another web designer.”

I’m not sure if this website makes me more excited to be getting more design work or scared of working with these kinds of clients. On one hand it seems like everybody needs design and logo work, on the other hand some of them seem to be insane.

Clientsfromhell.net

Awesome Skull drawing time lapse

Interests, Life

I see a video like this and it reminds me that sometimes I say to Laurel “I can’t really draw” and she laugh’s at me and tells me I’m just doubting myself. I can copy somebodies drawing style, but I can never really find my own. When I sit down and really want to draw something I can never think of anything. I think I need to start doing still life or something just to get my hands back in shape. I know there’s good drawings in there somewhere.

First Production Photo of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead

Entertainment, TV

Rick

OMG Nerdgasm!

Every picture that I get from this series says “We’re taking this seriously”. AMC is going to make the Godfather of Zombie TV shows. Actually the bar isn’t set very high. The effects were pretty decent on [W:Dead Set] but the overall show didn’t really go anywhere. I can only hope that this show will go on for at least a few seasons so that we can get a good long look at the world that Kirkman created.

First Production Photo of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead – The Walking Dead – AMC.

Schu-Review : Nas and Damian Marley – Distant Relatives

Entertainment, music


I was talking to a friend about the existence of this album and the first thing he said was ‘I’ve always wanted to like Damian Marley but he’s not hard enough for me.’ which I thought was strange because I’ve always wanted to like Nas but I thought he wasn’t ‘Musical’ enough. I like his lyrics, but sometimes his beats are kind of basic and his choruses are lacking. But he’s from the streets, YO. So this is the album for both of us.

It starts out with a bang. ‘As we enter’ is the classic hip-hop “who we are” song, with an interesting beat and lyrics. Lots of back and forth between the two. Marley really ups his lyric game on this track. Starts the album with a bang, really gets you going. I love this song.

[Damian Marley]
Masuri Sana
Switch up the language and move to Ghana

[Nas]
Salute and honor, real revolution rhymers

[Damian Marley]
Rhythm piranhas

[Nas]
Like true Obamas, unfold the drama

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but this is my favorite song on the album. The album as a whole follows a track where it starts out loud and fast and then each song gets more mellow. There are a few really good songs ‘Strong Will Continue’ , ‘Land of Promise’ , and ‘Friends’. But with the statement it makes when it first starts I wish that it could have maintained that energy level through the whole thing. But I guess that is the melding of these two styles. It’s still a great album, put it on and chill out for 45 minutes.

4 out of 5 Schus