My space on the net

Godzilla and England

2006-07-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why the movies on big creatures such as the ones on dinosaurs always show them trampling buildings, uprooting bridges etc as if they were a little toy to them. It can be argued that it does seem pleasant to the violent mind but a little logic could prove it to be just a little daft. For instance wikipedia shows that the largest dinosaur weighed around 209 tons. The Golden Gate Bridge weighs around 894,500 tons. Then how is it that the dinosaur can uproot and carry something in its jaws that weighs more than 4000 times its own weight?

This is just the time for one of those Godzilla movies. You know how it is. It’s pouring outside, you are in the bus and suddenly pop comes Godzilla and wreaks havoc on the city. Uprooting bridges many times its weight. Classic.

Talking of weighty issues, for England, taking penalties is a Godzillian task. They have never won a World Cup match on penalties. That’s the kind of confidence the commentator inspired in the English when they were just about to take penalties against the Portuguese. And the English kept their record intact. They bowed out of the World Cup thanks to misses from Lampard, Gerrard, and Carraiger.

(Here’s to England going out on penalties again in the quarters in Switzerland 2008!)

World Cup Post 2

2006-06-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

There’s something as Too much football. Yes believe me. To explain further to the skeptic who is about to switch to reading something better, let me present my case.

The trouble with the world cup, many football fanatic say is that it happens only every four years. If they had their way, they would be playing world cups yearly, half yearly, quarterly or even monthly. So, Brazil crowned world champions in June (really, England fans, including me, who r u kidding after that display against Paraguay?) might have to do it all over again in July. So what’s wrong in that says the football fan. After all that means there’s more football and less soaps. Sounds fun aint it?

However, there’s nothing like waiting patiently for a tournament for four years. Teams tend to change a lot in four years, the coaches too. It brings with it an almost mysterical quality to the tournament. And more fun as well.

To further elaborate the concept of ‘waiting patiently’, I put forward the case of the EPL. The games in the League happen almost every weekend. The buildup of the games coming next weekend is just too good and kind of brings an added excitement and tension before the game begins. You are almost waiting for the next game to begin and hope that is as good as the one last week. This does not and cannot happen during the world cup. There is no buildup so to speak because you can’t spend time on building up a game when there are two other games happening at the same time elsewhere! I have missed 6-7 big games already this WC because I know I can catch up on any other game later on. The curiosity of who will be playing in the next rounds is there. But not so much excitement and tension as witnessed in the EPL. There is just too much football!!

P.S. Had recently been on a trek to Lohgad, a place not far from Pune. A post on that eventful day in the pipeline.

The usual suspects

2006-06-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to prove the world that he never existed"!! A quote from the movie that made Kevin Spacey a star. Essentially a suspense movie, the plot revolves around a group of criminals brought together by the police. The criminals make plans but are interrupted in their journey by a mysterious character known as Kaiser Soze. This guy is like "Sabka Baap" as far as criminals go. What I mean is that he has a big reputation among the bad guys as being the baddiest of them all (so much so that he kills his family held at gunpoint by some rival drug gang to prove that he dont give a shit). And this big-baddie is cross with our friendly neighborhood criminals for something they did earlier. And so the complicated puzzle evolves.

The direction is great and helps keep the tension throughout the flick. The actors have all done a good job. Especially Kevin Spacey who won an Oscar for this movie. His portrayal of the limping Verbal Kint is just too good. A great movie all in all. With a great surprise ending too :-). A must watch I say.

To set the ball rolling...

2006-06-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

The world cup begins today and exciting nights lay ahead..

There are four debutants this time round ..and all the favorites are there too..just that this time they will be much fitter than in 2002. The reason being they have had a more time between the end of the season and the start of the world cup than in 2002. So expect the big guns to be fired up. It also means there is less probability of any big upsets. Which is good in a way cos then we get to see the real biggies fight it out. I know sometimes these games turn out to be boring as teams tend to get defensive and all but nevertheless its great fun to watch the big stars battling each other out.

So who are the favorites?

Surely its Brazil is what everybody says. They have perhaps got the best team of all time, with perhaps the best player of all time, Ronaldhino. But World cups are not won just by playing beautiful attacking football. The Italians will tell you that. And how? They are the masters of the defensive game and have been the most successful team in the WC after Brazil. Brazil have a week defense. There’s no questioning that. The best defense in the world at the moment would be surprisingly England’s, what with Terry, Rio, Neville and Cole lining up and also the tenacious Carraiger and Campbell on the bench. The Italians too as expected have got a good defense. What’s more, Brazil could have to face Italy in the 2^nd round :-)

Out of the other favorites, Argentina, Germany, and England too have a good chance. Years of watching the EPL, has made me a supporter of the queen’s team. But this time they do actually have a good team too. With Rooney fit again they are an exciting team to watch out for.