Socceroohhh

Well it's been a week since my last post which clearly shows that blogging is more for exam periods when there are far more important things to be done that I don't want to do.

So post-exams, my time has been filled with a combination of work and futbol. Given that the former is not very interesting, this post will be primarily concerning the latter.

First of all, the obligatory "woohoo, we're through! I love Guus!"

Good, now that that's out of the way. Last night "Australia v Croatia" was the craziest game of futbol I've ever seen (and I've seen quite a few). It had everything:
- bizarre tactics where after each time Croatia went a goal up they would put 11 players behind the ball, and every time Australia equalised, they would put 11 players in front of the ball, however this was also...
- the first time in the World Cup that I saw the Croatians actually attacking
- the crazy dancing coach man, there should be youtube videos made of his antics
- a pearler of a free kick, best you'll see
- a howler of a goal conceded, terrible goalkeeping
- a goal that knocks a team out of the next round... struck by a player in an offside position... and not noticed (Kewell's beauty)
- 3 players sent off in 5 minutes
- several handballs in the box going unpunished, one going punished by a penalty
- ethnic Croatians playing for Australia, Australian-born players (Siminic) playing for Croatia...
- a rugby tackle in the box, also going unpunished (Siminic on Viduka, if only Croatia had a rugby team)
- a player receiving 3 yellow cards before being sent off... (Siminic, again)
- 2 balls being on the pitch at the same time
- balls being cleared off the line by defenders, keepers pouncing on balls on the line and being crunched by attackers...
and of course
- amazing character by the Socceroos to fight back from a goal down twice (they've conceded first in every world cup game so far)... and amazing tension as a result

So yeah... we're through to the 2nd round Knockout and the Croatians and Graham Poll have been knocked out... yeah... read the article on Graham Poll's likely exit here. If you ask me, he deserves it. That game was an absolute farce and for someone who was meant to be in line to referee the World Cup final, Poll made an absolute mockery of futbol. And before all you bleeding hearts (heidi) come to his defence with platitudes like "oh but everyone makes mistakes, its human" yes but those mistakes should be punished and besides, how many mistakes can one man make in a match. And giving a player 3 yellow cards? That is just inexcusable.

A comment on Fed Square last nite, ie. it was nutso. I went down there at like 4.30am to try to meet my friends who were "at the lightpole" [sic]. Fed Square was pretty much a big moshpit. Some people were freaking out, not me because I'd been in moshpits before and knew how to navigate them. There's something super fantabulous about squeezing through hoardes of sweaty bogans interspersed with the odd screaming chick here and there. After about 15 mins and 2/3rds of the way to the lightpole destination, I realised that even if I get there there is no standing room so why bother. Watching the game while being pushed from all sides is not my idea of fun. So went back to Heidi's.

Note: I am now a proud owner of a Socceroos scarf. Bring on Forza Italia eh? See y'all on Lygon St.

Freedom.....again

Well my last exam to cap off my 7th semester at university was this morning, IFA (Interminably Feared Aggression or... Intermediate Financial Accounting). I'd like to report that it wasn't as bad as I expected, thank God for the last minute cramming I did last night, I swear it did a world of good. So... with a firm exhalation... I think... I passed... "whew".

At the exam venue this morning (ahh good old Royal Exhibition Building, a beautiful building that I know associate with absolute misery), every other conversation was about the football (every other one was about "omg I am going to fail/failed!")). And interestingly, many people were still discussing the Socceroos match from Monday night (and with good reason... it was awesome). Many people seemed to be discussing the South Korea match last night also, and these people were mostly of the Asian variety. I also noticed last night at the library that it cleared out at around 10.30, half an hour before the start of the match... and I over heard about a dozen conversations like "yeah, I'm going to go watch the Korea match".

The first thing I'd like to say is that I'm very happy that football (that's right, the real football) finally has the sort of attention it rightly deserves in this country. The second observation is a bit of a broad generalisation (that i recognise does not apply to all, but most) and also, somewhat an outsider's point of view, so bear with me... but I'd like to address this concept of "Asian pride" particularly in the sporting area.

OK, I find this concept somewhat hilarious. Almost all the Singaporeans, Malaysians (Note: I'm talking about Singaporeans and Malaysians of the Chinese variety ;-)), Honkies and Taiwanese people I know are supporting Japan and/or Korea at the world cup. To the point where they were actually sad that Australia won (here's looking at you Poony!).

I find this laughable. First of all, if Hong Kong, Taiwan (don't even mention China) were participating in a sporting event, the chance of a Korean backing them would be extremely slim, and the chance of a Japanese backing them would be non-existent. This goes double for Singapore and Malaysia, I don't think most Japanese even consider those two countries to be in the same continent as them, South East Asia is just so far away... with Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

When it comes to the World Cup, Japanese fans would be quicker to pick up a "cool" foreign team like Brazil, Italy or maybe even Australia (apparently they have won a lot of foreign fans over there and a few of my Korean friends purport to be supporting Australia as their second team). If Malaysia or Singapore were involved, I guarantee you would not find many Japanese rooting for them.

This leads me to believe that this "Asian Pride" is somewhat one-way. When we speak about popular culture (of which sport is a part), the influence of the Korean and Japanese in this area, across the rest of Asia, is well known and widespread. Japanese music and fashion has long held a sway over Asia, as has the "Korean wave" of movies and drama series. But how many popular Chinese artists ever make it in the far far east? Even the biggest ones fail to break through there... (i think Kelly Chen is the only I know of who's sold any records in Japan... although I think Jay Chou has tried). How many Chinese movies achieve boxoffice success?

I use China as an example because at least they have a well developed local entertainment industry, not something Malaysia (Malay-language is pervasive) or Singapore (they have Stephanie Sun and that horrible SARS rap) can claim.

Granted, my knowledge of these things is limited, but you can all see where I'm going with this. Kids in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan... even as far as Thailand, love Japan and Korea... but is this reciprocal? I think not.

So there you go, rethink your allegiances kids. I love Japan and Korea as much as the next person, they are cool, I study one of the lanaguages and am also a fan of Nakata and co. But I don't agree with following their team with a fanatical allegiance and blocking out influence from the other cool teams at the World Cup. After all, it's not just about the hairstyles, but also about the football!

So yeah, that's my two cents. Feel free to comment with your thoughts.

Alex

3 - 1 Baby!

OK so here's the deal:

Australian Alex 1 - Japanese Exam 3
Australian Socceroos 3 - Japanese Samurais 1

Hooray!!!!!!!!

After being breathtakingly pummeled by the Japanese exam last week (I think I scored at least one goal against it though because it wasn't a clean sheet... heh), my honour has been avenged by the Socceroos... what a nerve-wracking game... I had to sit through around an hour of "shit we're gonna lose" type thinking before Timmy Cahill smacked in the equaliser... thank God we managed to win the battle to sign him with Samoa.

Aloisi played well too and so did Viduka (despite not scoring). Dukes kept a cool head amid the mess of nerves that was the Aussie team at he start of the match, and did well at what he does best, holding up the ball for other strikers. He also had some good shots at goal himself that were denied by the Japanese keeper.

So that's a wrap. Australia scores its first win in a World Cup and gets its campaign off to a fantastic start. Brazil and Croatia here we come!

Alex

PS. Watching the USA vs. Czech Republic match atm. The Czechs are up 3 - 0 at the 87th minute with new Arsenal recruit, Rosicky having scored two of them and played a fantastic match. I'm sure Wenger is pleased, having bought him before the World Cup, as opposed to after when his value would undoubtedly go up.

Bitch.

In order to set a new record for cyber-whinging I will need to state the following things:

- my wisdom teeth hurt and I look forward to the world of pain I will no doubt be put through when they get removed
- IFA (incredibly flavourless aka. intermediate financial accounting) is immeasurably boring... seriously, there is very little excitement to be drawn from calculating Deferred Tax Liabilities and Minority Interest.
- There are too many people in the library who mistake the "silent study" area for a "quiet discussion" area. You know who you bastards are. If this was Columbine (or Monash), I know who I'd shoot first.
- I've fallen sick again with cold/flu like symptoms and now have to keep myself alive with a Codral/Red Bull cocktail.
- As a result of this I probably can't play squash tomorrow.
- I'm so broke that ain't nothin' can fix me. Except a steady injection of cash...
- Too many birds have mistaken my car for some sort of toilet. If anyone asks, my car is a dalmatian.
- Upon finishing exams on Wednesday, I have a shitload of AIESEC work and about 40 hours per week in the call centre to look forward to.
- I missed the good World Cup games (Germany 4 - 2 Costa Rica, Ecuador 2 - 0 Poland, Argentina 2 - 1 Ivory Coast) and instead saw the sucky ones (England 1 - 0 Paraguay, Sweden 0 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago). Consarnit.
- The 7-11 was sold out of Red Bull earlier, I had to buy V... ugh... V.
- And just to make matters worse... this... will the punishment never end?

I think that's it for now but I'm fairly sure I'll think of something else soon.

Just 3 more sleeps until my IFA (immensely fangorious ass-whooping)... *sigh* ironic acronyms are the only joy i have left.

Alex

North Side

Had my Spanish exam this morning and had to trek out to La Trobe University for it... and man, what can I say? First of all, it's not as far as I expected... only took about 20 mins from Punt Rd (getting through Punt in morning peak was not fun though). So I've entered the campus and I'm driving along past all these gum trees thinking "wtf"... sure enough I see a yellow kangaroo sign.

So the place has gum trees, kangaroos, a natural reserve and a freakin' moat

So that was a bit nutso. The exam wasn't too bad (think I cleared 60... phew... as Peisan says "Ps get degrees") and the campus wasn't too difficult to navigate, despite there being only 3 coin-operated parking ticket machines across the 8-or-so carparks.


After the 'zam, Luca and I decided to check out High St, Northcote which is billed to be the next Smith St (which is, of course, the next Brunswick St). Of all the weird things that have happened... as I was parking my car, an old lady that looked about 92 asked us for a lift down the street because her shopping bag, the contents of which were one banana and one salami, was too heavy. We, of course, obliged... and Luca being the gentleman that he is, opened the door for her and all that... she proceded to chastise me about driving too fast (despite doing 40) and for missing her house (by like, one other house). We later saw her in the exact same spot as she picked her up with, what looked to be, the exact same shopping bag... wonders never cease and neither does the indignity of old age. Luca and I promptly made a pact to kill each other before we ever get old.

We had "breakfast" (simon style in the middle of the day) at a place called Limestone Cafe. This Greek-run joint clearly shelled out too much money on things like LCD screen TVs, bean-couches and funnily shaped handbasins... but the breakfast was massive and quite delish at only $12.50... it included: spinach, lettuce, bacon, 2 grilled tomatoes, handful of mushrooms, 2 hash browns, 2 sausages, 2 poached eggs on 3 pieces of toasted turkish bread + cracked pepper. Awesome.

So yes... my verdict is... the north-side is strange and full of kangaroos, moats and crazy old ladies but they do serve up a mean set of eggs. Word.

PS. Here's an unrelated but cool photograph from the nomadlife main site. Apparently, Amnesty International has a new ad-campaign on bus shelters (in Switzerland... not sure where else). Cool eh? The ads are transparent so it looks like the "action" is happening in that very place...

Doom

Well I think I failed Japanese. If by some freaking miracle, I passed then these are the things I pledge to do next semester:

1. Memorise the new kanji of every chapter and complete the exercises by the end of every fortnight.
2. Memorise the new vocublary of every chapter and complete the exercises by the end of every fortnight
3. Memorise the grammatical constructions, including all the fine details like what form to use, exceptions and nuances by the end of every fortnight. Practice using these constructions by writing sentences (using above vocab and kanji).
4. Study every freakin' week, not just try to cram a semester's worth of work in swot vac.

So everybody pray for me. Otherwise, it's bye bye Diploma.

Alex

Law Library

Observation 1: To the guy wearing the jacket with "Jesus loves even me" emblazoned across the back of it. First of all, why "even" you? I mean, if Jesus loves William Hung and George W Bush, then surely you're in there with a shot... unless you've killed babies or something. Second of all, how do you think Jesus feels about this kind of blatant advertising. I appreciate you wanting to use yourself as a massive billboard but you should consider marketing something more profitable. Like the World Cup or Pepsi. And on an aside, I wonder how people would react if I walked into the library with "Praise Allah" on my back. Probably I would be in an ASIO interrogation facility by now.

Observation 2: To the fat Korean guy who clearly decided it would be efficient to make a phone call while peeing, damn! I mean dude! And you went in the cubicle too which is freakin' loud! How could your homeboy/girlfriend/boss/family-member not realise? Terrible!

Note to self: The coffees at Porta Via are terrible... Terrible! Especially the milky ones... always always get double espresso and then gulp it. The muffins aren't bad though, and the Thai chicken pie is pretty good!

Over and out.
Alex

PS. Danger Doom is tops.

Lil Weezy

Man, Lil Wayne is seriously good. First time I listened to his last album, I didn't like it... but it has grown on me so much! I'm now officially a big fan! A lot of people say that he jacks Jay's style a bit but I don't think so. He just has a very good flow on the mic, like Jay-Z, but he doesn't really sound that much like Jigga.

Anyways, for anyone who's even remotely interested, you should check out his album "The Carter 2" (currently keeping me sane in the law library). He has a mixtape out with DJ Drama called Dedication 2 also, which is pretty good.

Alex

Ear to the Street: A lady complaining to another lady in Lygon Food Store about not being let into The Saint in St. Kilda last night because her wedding party was overdressed (people in suits).

Below is a photo from the Guardin:

Sean Smith’s photograph of detainees being taken for questioning by US troops in Iraq has been named photograph of the year. It was one of 157 pictures selected from over 6,000 entries to make up the current exhibition. Photo: Sean Smith / The Guardian

Futbol: Netherlands v. Australia

Well it's possible that I blog a lot about the World Cup or it's possible that I completely neglect to... I think it'll be closer to the latter than the former because I'm sometimes quite lazy, but we shall see...

Nevertheless, the Netherlands v. Australia friendly tonight was quite interesting. I expected us to be competitive but I still expected the Dutch to win by 2 goals at least. What ensued was quite surprising.

The first half was a Dutch white-wash in terms of possession and shots on goal, but it only produced one goal for the Dutch (in the 9th minute, Van Nistelrooy pouncing on a loose ball in the box). This lack of results is pretty much due to Mark Schwarzer's heroics in goal, he pulled off some fantastic saves and has surely cemented his spot as first choice for the game against Japan (poor Kalac).

Australia was disappointing in the first half, the gap between us and the Dutch in terms of technical ability and pace was evident. Our passing sucked, we gave the Dutch too much space on the ball and we were repeatedly exposed on the flanks by the pace of Robben and Van Persie.

The second half showed a marked improvement. After Viduka was dragged down in the box (his strength on the ball created a few good opportunities for him and will surely be a big bonus against the physically weaker Japanese team), the Socceroos were awarded a penalty. Although Viduka missed (it hit the crossbar), the ensuing confusion in the box allowed super-sub Timmy Cahill to make his first touch a goal. Nice!

Cahill was excellent from that point, the confidence boost gave him the ability to play aggressively all the time and that motivated the Aussies to push forward (along with a good talking to from Guus, I'm sure). In the second half the Aussies were also much more aggressive, coming in with some good tackles and throwing their weight around a bit more, shutting down their Dutch opponents (it should be noted Chipperfeld in particular succeeded at shutting down Van Persie).

At around the 70th minute, Luke Wilkshire produced a horrible tackle, which topped off a pretty bad day for him in general. He was promptly red-carded and sent off. This caused Guus to bring on Thompson for a bit more thrust up forward with the aim of putting the Dutch on the backfoot. All of this seemed to work quite well, the Aussies defended very well during this time and had some decent chances up front also. The one-man disadvantaged was almost unnoticeable.

So the game ended in a 1 - 1 draw, despite the Dutch putting pressure on towards the end and being denied by Schwarzer again and again (there must've been like 10 saves there). I think that, overall, it was a very good game and a very good result for us. Not only did we manage to score and get a result against absolutely top class opposition, it gave us the experience we needed before the world cup. Greece were not really world class opposition and Uruguay was quite some time ago. However, now we know how to play at the highest level (the Dutch are really not that far from Brazil in terms of technical ability, and definitely above Japan and Croatia), that will give us a lot of confidence going into the group stage.

Go Aussie!
Alex

Walmer St bridge

I've got a new job at Fieldworks Market Research doing very similar sort of work to what I was doing at I-View. Basically calling people and asking them to do surveys, not that exciting really but it brings in the cash. Fieldworks is in Abbotsford, on Victoria St (opposite Ikea/Victoria Gardens just near the Skipping Girl).

Because parking is scarce around this place during the day (damn parking restrictions and permit zones), I had to go into Kew to park my car and then walk across the Yarra to work (only takes about 5 mins to walk and it beats paying for parking at Victoria Gardens).

I parked on Young St and I walked across the Walmer St. footbridge onto Burnley St and back around onto Victoria St. This short walk brought back so many memories from high school. When I used to hang out with Div, Soey, Ally, Drew, Matt and Luca. We used to spend a lot of time in that area. Playing pool at Luca's, hanging out in the park drinking, chillin at Divi's listenin to hip hop, just random messing around...

I dunno, I wanted to record this because it was a good memory. Relations with some of those guys have not been the best since, some things have come up that drove us apart in the end, I guess. With others it was just a matter of drifting apart.... but that's the way life is.

Anyways, to all y'all, I have nothing but love... those were really good times and one of the happiest times of my life. Ah... memories.

Alex