Working on some Arabic and was using Albert Hammond, Jr.'s first solo album, Yours to Keep, as background music. I was really enjoying it and decided to head back to the Strokes back catalog. Part of the inspiration was an overheard conversation between two housemates here in Fes, one a British student asserting that they usually liked "indie" but "not like Strokes-indie". I tried to defend them. Kings of Leon they are not.
Maybe this video is a good indication of what people don't like. It's so saturated with classic rock and roll cool that it nearly drowns itself. The video has nothing to do with the song, but rather just perpetuating the idea that the Strokes spend most of their time in dive bars drinking long necks and smoking cigarettes. Nevermind that there's hardly a place where smoking inside is legal these days.
Still though, do I wish that I could spend a late afternoon watching soccer and playing pinball at a dingy pub with Slash and the guys from Guided by Voices? As a matter of fact, I do. The Strokes have always been, were from the outset, too cool for school. I'm not sure I would've liked them any other way.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Illegal hits
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5706132
I just read this article and watched this video. I know I intended to blog mostly about Morocco, etc., but this caught my attention and I think is worth mentioning.
Schlereth Sounds Off here about 'illegal hits' in the NFL. He seems mostly right. You've got to protect the players to some extent, and it's tough because the game has gotten pretty damn fast and physical. So often the defensive player is charged, but the extremity of the impact seems to me -- amateur physics alert here -- to be caused equally by how fast the offensive player is moving. Granted, unsuspecting, stationary offensive players get smashed and injured and concussed, but these are collisions, right?
Second thing, Schlereth -- or "Stink" -- makes an analogy here to soccer. He suggests that if we don't allow these kinds of smashing hits, then what we have is soccer. Pretty inaccurate. It's more like rugby, where you have to wrap your arms around the ball carrier when tackling and can't go high. I'm not advocating an NFL rule change, but I will say that rugby fans aren't left wanting for more high impact collisions. There's still plenty of smashing and violence on the rugby pitch.
Also, I generally think the "soccer is for wussies and therefore un-American" is a little played out. It's a pretty worn analogy and was pretty thin to begin with. Is there a single soccer player who could survive the entire 11 minutes of an NFL game when the ball is actually in play? Maybe a very, very small few (excepting of course the kicking positions). But the lack of violence isn't THEE reason Americans "don't like" soccer (which they increasingly do). It may definitely be what we love about football, but violence is absent from baseball, for example, and it's still loved. For very different reasons.
I do fear for the future of soccer -- and not just in America -- because of the "wussiness". It's not the diving so much that's a problem, because drawing fouls is a part of the sport just as much as it is basketball. Is the grimace on the face of a driving small forward as he gets hand checked really necessary? What sets soccer apart, unquestionably, is the feigning of injuries, which is an abomination, in my opinion. Fair game to go down with a slight shove and try to get a penalty to tie the game in the last minute. Officials should be able to tell the difference. But why roll around on the ground and try to get another guy tossed? It's too much. It ruins it for me, and there are a handful of highly talented players who I will never appreciate because of this.
As for the NFL, they've got to seriously consider this issue in the offseason. They need major rule changes if they're going to keep dealing out the fines they are. I'm not advocating either way at the moment, but I don't think the fines are justified. Frankly, as a fan to whom 50k is a massive chunk of money, it's actually kind of insulting that a guy gets docked that kind of pay for a hit that the league, its TV coverage, and its merchandise all wholeheartedly endorse.
I just read this article and watched this video. I know I intended to blog mostly about Morocco, etc., but this caught my attention and I think is worth mentioning.
Schlereth Sounds Off here about 'illegal hits' in the NFL. He seems mostly right. You've got to protect the players to some extent, and it's tough because the game has gotten pretty damn fast and physical. So often the defensive player is charged, but the extremity of the impact seems to me -- amateur physics alert here -- to be caused equally by how fast the offensive player is moving. Granted, unsuspecting, stationary offensive players get smashed and injured and concussed, but these are collisions, right?
Second thing, Schlereth -- or "Stink" -- makes an analogy here to soccer. He suggests that if we don't allow these kinds of smashing hits, then what we have is soccer. Pretty inaccurate. It's more like rugby, where you have to wrap your arms around the ball carrier when tackling and can't go high. I'm not advocating an NFL rule change, but I will say that rugby fans aren't left wanting for more high impact collisions. There's still plenty of smashing and violence on the rugby pitch.
Also, I generally think the "soccer is for wussies and therefore un-American" is a little played out. It's a pretty worn analogy and was pretty thin to begin with. Is there a single soccer player who could survive the entire 11 minutes of an NFL game when the ball is actually in play? Maybe a very, very small few (excepting of course the kicking positions). But the lack of violence isn't THEE reason Americans "don't like" soccer (which they increasingly do). It may definitely be what we love about football, but violence is absent from baseball, for example, and it's still loved. For very different reasons.
I do fear for the future of soccer -- and not just in America -- because of the "wussiness". It's not the diving so much that's a problem, because drawing fouls is a part of the sport just as much as it is basketball. Is the grimace on the face of a driving small forward as he gets hand checked really necessary? What sets soccer apart, unquestionably, is the feigning of injuries, which is an abomination, in my opinion. Fair game to go down with a slight shove and try to get a penalty to tie the game in the last minute. Officials should be able to tell the difference. But why roll around on the ground and try to get another guy tossed? It's too much. It ruins it for me, and there are a handful of highly talented players who I will never appreciate because of this.
As for the NFL, they've got to seriously consider this issue in the offseason. They need major rule changes if they're going to keep dealing out the fines they are. I'm not advocating either way at the moment, but I don't think the fines are justified. Frankly, as a fan to whom 50k is a massive chunk of money, it's actually kind of insulting that a guy gets docked that kind of pay for a hit that the league, its TV coverage, and its merchandise all wholeheartedly endorse.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Indiana Jones and the Medina of Fes
Just kidding. But seriously, some station on the satellite is playing an Indy marathon this week. We're on day 2. Just wanted to make a few notes:
- You'd think, after all these years, that Indy might've found a slightly less high-maintenance, slightly more adventurous female companion.
- All Indiana Jones movies must contain at least one scene featuring parallel moving vehicles, going at high speed, in which the passengers switch places during a skirmish between the two. Last Crusade has at least two such scenes. Also on this note, I'm not sure there's a character in the history of film better at running his adversaries off the road in a variety of vehicles.
- When Indy beats someone up and takes their costume/uniform, that person will not die, but they will not wake up for some time. They will never be heard from again, however.
All for now. Fes is good. Missing home a lot but it's going well over here.
- You'd think, after all these years, that Indy might've found a slightly less high-maintenance, slightly more adventurous female companion.
- All Indiana Jones movies must contain at least one scene featuring parallel moving vehicles, going at high speed, in which the passengers switch places during a skirmish between the two. Last Crusade has at least two such scenes. Also on this note, I'm not sure there's a character in the history of film better at running his adversaries off the road in a variety of vehicles.
- When Indy beats someone up and takes their costume/uniform, that person will not die, but they will not wake up for some time. They will never be heard from again, however.
All for now. Fes is good. Missing home a lot but it's going well over here.
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