2008 Olympic Soccer Ball

So I have a 2006 World Cup ball, a 2008 European Championship ball...and now they just released the 2008 Olympic Soccer Ball. Beautiful.

via The World Cup Blog

Bell X1 - Flame

Bell X1 are from County Kildare in Ireland. I've been really enjoying this song this afternoon. Evidently Damien Rice used to be their lead vocalist and this sounds nothing like Damien Rice (who I also like).

Coach

Text message exchange

Coach: So what number do you want? Or do you just want me to pick one?
Player: It doesn't matter you can just pick one for me
Coach: Cool. 99 it is then. Awesome.
Player: haha thats tight

Beach Soccer World Cup - Best Goals

If you are like me, you only watched a couple minutes of the Beach Soccer World Cup. Just enough minutes to think:

1. Who the heck gets into Beach Soccer and how does one go about deciding this is the sport you want to play?
2. Running in sand? That's hard enough as is. Dribbling, defending, doing step-overs and striking bicycle kicks must be close to impossible.

These guys make it look easy. Check out the 4th one, which is one of the sickest goals I have seen in a long time.

via 101 Great Goals

The Figs - CD Release Party @ The Blue Moon

This Saturday, The Figs have a CD release party for their album What Keeps Me Up at Night. Here are the fine ladies playing at WDVX in Knoxville, TN. If you want some more you can also check out former BOB posts related to the band.

And yes, AFC alum Caroline is one of the band members!

Kaka, Gerrard and Messi - ADIDAS Commercial

Cool little video here.

Find your place in the team.

Jon Stewart - Don't Ask Don't Tell Hearing

To continue the theme from the comment exchange on the Walcott post, check out this 5 minutes of comedy from Jon Stewart regarding the recent hearings on the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. It is worth watching all the way through. The closing is effective.

Reality

Text message exchange between my wife and I today:

My wife: Did you clean up Jozy's vomit/poop? Which was it?
Me: It was vomited poop...with potatoes.

Jung Sung-Ryeong vs Cote d’Ivoire

This goal is from South Korea's recent friendly vs. the Ivory Coast. I think that if I was either goalie in this situation, I would have pulled the famous Cantona celebration either to:

a. Show that I was so good at goalie that I actually meant to do this and was not surprised.
b. Show that I was just plain crazy and didn't care that I just let in a goal as bad as this one. Plus, maybe I would confuse the crowd into silence.

I think (b) would have been particularly funny.

O que eu quero é sambar

Reaching back into the vault, here is a mix from May of 2006 that was never officially published but came up my last post. All songs featured were tunes I heard from that most recent World Cup in Germany.

O que eu quero é sambar

1. City of Blinding Lights ≈ U2
2. Celebrate the Day (The Official FIFA 2006 World Cup Anthem) ≈ Amadou Bagayoko, Herbert Grönemeyer & Mariam Doumbia
3. ¡Olé! ≈ The Bouncing Souls
4. Mas Que Nada ≈ Tamba Trio
5. Assiko (Senegal) ≈ Daara J
6. Baiao destemperado ≈ Barbatuques
7. Ponta de Lanca (Umbabarauma) ≈ Jorge Ben
8. Guerreiro ≈ Curumin
9. Return of the Tres ≈ Delinquent Habits
10. Mas Que Nada ≈ Sergio Mendes & The Black Eyed Peas
11. All Together Now ≈ The Farm
12. Bat Macumba ≈ Gilberto Gil
13. Three Lions '98 - Football is Coming Home ≈ Baddiel, Skinner, And The Lightning Seeds
14. Kings of the Field (Germany / Sierra Leone) ≈ Patrice
15. Glow ≈ Alison Hinds & David Rudder
16. The Cup of Life ≈ Ricky Martin
17. Born In the U.S.A. ≈ Bruce Springsteen
18. Què Papa e esse? (Spain) ≈ Gecko Turner
19. De l'alouette ≈ RJD2
20. Eanie Meany ≈ Jim Noir

Curumin - Compacto

Here's a little Brazilian samba-funk for your Monday evening from a band named Curumin. Good tune to sit outside with, grab a beer and just chill with your dog. Enjoy.

Curumin's song Guerreiro was part of the Joga Bonito add campaign last World Cup and can also be found on the rare, unpublished BOB Monthly Mix from May of 2006, O que eu quero é sambar.

Cajun Signs: Acadian Boiling Pot

A boiling point in Scott, LA.

Cajun Signs: Bingeaux

A local Bingo business in Scott, LA.

Second Degree

My wife successfully passed her second degree black belt test yesterday morning! She was awesome. Check out the lethal weapon in action. The one right below this sentence looks like a nice volley into the upper 90.

Disc Dog

It's just a matter of time before we are competing in tournaments. One of my favorite things about this highlight reel is how Jozy stops and looks at the camera as if she is bragging or proving a point. Pretty funny.

Chris Knox - It's Love (Share the Good, Heineken Commercial)

Does anyone else like this song? Here is the full version. The singer's name is Chris Knox. Evidently he is an old New Zealand punk rocker (performing in bands such as Toy Love and Tall Dwarfs).

Maybe it is just on my TV so much that it has invaded some part of my brain that just makes me tap my feet whenever it comes on. I can't decide yet.

Prey

We've been taking Jozy to the local dog park recently. At the dog park, children are prey.

And Jozy is fast. So you better leave the kids at home.

Beijing 2008 - NBC's Olympic Soccer Coverage

More information about NBC's Olympic soccer coverage schedule is now available! Go check it out at the World Cup Blog, bookmark the page there and check back regularly for updates. Looks like I'll be throwing 4 AM Olympic Soccer viewing parties at our house. RSVP early.

The first US game is on 8/7 on MSNBC, 4:30 a.m. – 7 a.m.; USA vs. Japan

Vampire Weekend - Walcott

In response to the request for the Cape Cod song on the newest Monthly Mix (Stranger to Blue), here you go. Turn it up and dance at your desk. Careful though, there is a cuss word in there somewhere...

Update: Kudos to Mark for making sure I paid attention to this band in the first place.

Stranger to Blue

1. Gobbledigook ∞ Sigur Rós
2. Bixby Canyon Bridge ∞ Death Cab For Cutie
3. Despite What You've Been Told ∞ Two Gallants
4. Free Things for Poor People ∞ Infadels
5. Rages of Babylon ∞ Joseph Arthur
6. Just Us Kids ∞ James McMurtry
7. Always A Friend ∞ Alejandro Escovedo
8. When Water Comes to Life ∞ Cloud Cult
9. Going On ∞ Gnarls Barkley
10. Can't Go Back Now ∞ The Weepies
11. Walcott ∞ Vampire Weekend
12. Grapevine Fires ∞ Death Cab For Cutie
13. Take Me Home Country Roads ∞ Honeybrowne
14. Plus Ones ∞ Okkervil River
15. Oh Mandy ∞ Spinto Band
16. Sequestered In Memphis ∞ The Hold Steady
17. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) ∞ Beirut
18. Anyone Else But You ∞ Michael Cera & Ellen Page
19. Flume ∞ Bon Iver
20. Hold Me in the River ∞ brakesbrakesbrakes
21. Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur ∞ Sigur Rós
22. Looselips ∞Kimya Dawson

Shotgun!

Jozy and I went out with our friends Mark and Maggie to a field today to "play" with some cattle. Jozy and Maggie both got really excited around the "strange looking big dogs," and pretty much ran around barking at them.

At some point the dogs got chased by a couple of donkeys so they got the hell out of there.


Before we left though, Jozy had a nice snack of cow manure. She subsequently vomited it all back up in my back seat.

Shotgun!

The Man Amid a Stampede

"It is no accident that Berbatov and Cantona share onfield qualities. The one who sees things differently, does things differently. Loner behaviour can be effective when a game is raging. Berbatov has Cantona’s knack of being the man amid a stampede towards the door who stops to notice a side exit that nobody else has seen. He will pause, just as an attack is flowing, and play the hitherto unimagined pass. He will beat a goalkeeper with a sudden shot when there was little warning of danger. Cleverness ties with boldness as the prime attributes Ferguson seeks in attackers, and Berbatov is the single player..."

- Jonathan Northcroft, in the Times Online via 101 Great Goals

KaiserCartel - Okay

New tune for your Monday from Brooklyn based KaiserCartel. Enjoy.

Go Long

After filming this, I came to the obvious conclusion that the better angle would be on the other end, so that you could actually see Jozy grab the dogobie out of the air. She does so on the second attempt...and you can kind of see it in the distance.

She usually brings it back. This time though, she heads straight for something else. Can you blame her? It is hot down here!

I will try the reverse angle some time soon.

Juno

We watched Juno last night and both of us really enjoyed it. It deals with the subject of teen pregnancy in a fashion that is both funny yet realistically dark. I found myself having a tough time liking the main character for a portion of the movie but by the end of the film I was a fan. Interesting soundtrack, with this song being one of the highlights for me.

Arrah and the Ferns - Skylark

Well you're a skylark
with your head up in the clouds
you hop from tree to tree
and you never touch the ground
'cause you know you'll find me, alone
waiting for you to fall
with your tired wings, ashamed
that you ever thought you could be
so restless and free

The sound quality on this is a little lacking but it is a great tune (found on dry spells, hard times) so give it a shot. Check out the band's website here. Arrah and the Ferns are from Muncie, IN. Unfortunately, the band has decided to no longer make any more music. Fortunately, you can still listen to some of their songs tunes on their MySpace site.

Loudon Wainwright III - Daughter

Here's a quick post for your Friday morning - a great tune by Loudon Wainwright called Daughter.

No real video, just a little something to listen to. Found on ...the plot that you passed.

Coming Soon - Pick a Trip!?!?

No summer vacation for us this year, so we are planning a trip for the fall. I am now accepting nominations for good vacation spots in the month of October. Good news is that I think we have enough points to get two round trip tickets overseas for free, in addition to about a free weeks stay at a top level Marriott resort or hotel. If there is a successful round of nominations, voting will commence.

Note: I am doing this without my wife's permission so there is a good chance all votes will be overridden in the end. Regardless, I would love to hear any cool ideas.

Above is a photo of a potential candidate: Marriott's Phuket Beach Club in Phuket, Thailand. It is a tempting choice except for the fact that it is monsoon season in October in Thailand.

Little Miss Sunshine

I watched Little Miss Sunshine tonight. Gets 3 stars out of 4 in my book. It didn't make me cry so it missed the last star. Definitely felt like it had that potential all movie, but it must have missed something. Can't put my finger on what it was. Don't get me wrong though, funny movie. Great characters. Great soundtrack. Worth renting, it just didn't bring the tears.

2008 Tour de France

I'm not really following the Tour de France at all but this picture from The Big Picture was cool enough to share. If you are a biking fan, go check this out. Look at the emotion on their faces. Intense.

Feathers

High 5

Beirut - Sunday Smile

Beirut is another recurring band on my mixes these days. This tune was on Dream of Fleets. I can't find a clip for the latest song that is on my play list. I'll keep looking. What a unique sound.

BEIRUT - Sunday Smile from The Flying Club Cup
Uploaded by flyingclubcup

To enjoy friends, to fall in love, to hit a ball...

“In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway. So it would be a crime against nature for any generation to take the world crisis so solemnly, that it put off enjoying those things for which we were designed in the 1st place: the opportunity to do good work, to enjoy friends, to fall in love, to hit a ball, and to bounce a baby.”

- Alistair Cooke, Letter From America

Alistair Cooke - Letter From America

I haven't been reading a lot lately so when I was packing for my flight today I performed a quick search in our home library for a book to read. I settled on Letter From America by Alistair Cooke. Cooke was British-American journalist who had a 58 year series on BBC that was used to report on American life to the British public. The book is a selection of the most memorable "letters." I was particularly struck by the ending of his tribute to Robert Frost.

Good Game

Played 2 6v6 soccer games last night. Scored 3 goals which is pretty good for a poor old defender like me. One was an upper 90 blast as well (very rare). After the first game, during which I think I played poorly, this was the feedback from one of the players on my team.

Player: Nice game Will.
Me: ehhh...it was ok.
Player: Yeah, we all played f&*_ing pathetic.
Pretty funny.

Rolfe vs. Toronto FC

I'm headed to Virginia for the week this afternoon, and am basically in the second week of what looks to be like one of the busiest work summers I have had in a while.

Here's one of the best MLS goals I have seen in a while. Check out Chris Rolfe's first touch, turn, and shot into the far post in this clip about 10 seconds in or so. The shot is great. The turn he has on his first touch is pure class.

Is Your Local Starbucks Closing?

Go here and find out if your neighborhood Starbucks is about to close. Unless it is located close enough to another location to cannibalize sales, you may be safe.

Journey

9 years ago tonight I met my wife at a Journey/Foreigner concert. Not sure what I was doing there but I'm glad I went.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Bon Iver - Lump Sum

Bon Iver has been on two monthly mixes in the past (dry spells, hard times and ...the plot that you passed). I am just wrapping up the latest mix and his song Flume is definitely on it. I guess this means that he is one of the better finds I have come across recently. The other bands that have made three appearances or more include the likes of Rogue Wave, Josh Ritter and the National. There are probably some others but those three come to mind easily. Enjoy this mellow tune with your late Sunday evening.

Bad Luck

I went to get my haircut today and was looking forward to getting out of the house and into a nice cool place for a bit. As I sat down and the woman started talking to me, I noted:

Me: Man, I'm glad to get out of our house. Our air conditioner broke last night.
Woman: That sucks! The one here is broken too!

Twitter Me

Joined Twitter tonight. My wife's pressure to experiment with social networking is working. You can track me (if you are interested) on Twitter under wilablog. See the sidebar as well.

Back

I'm "back" from a long week of commuting to Baton Rouge. Holy cow. Tired. I am so glad that I don't have to do that on a regular basis. To top it all of, our AC broke tonight. 3 summers in a row.

Caution! Azzurri

This t-shirt is the perfect gift for any soccer fan who hates the Italians, me included. Go buy your favorite blogger one here.

Summer Nights

Units of Measure

I went by CC's on my way out of town to Baton Rouge this morning and ordered a 'super grande' cup of coffee with cream and 4 sugars. The drivethru woman asked:

Barista: How much cream?
Me: umm........
Me: (silence, completely stymied)
Me: ummm.........
Me: Two tablespoons!
Barista: ummmm.....Ok.

I order cream at Starbucks all of the time and they never ask this question. What unit of measure would you have chosen? And why does Starbucks never ask me?

Pros and Cons

I'm commuting to Baton Rouge this week. It is about a 1 hour drive from home. As I came outside to start the drive home tonight at 6:45 PM, I discovered that I had a flat tire. After waking up at 5:45 this morning, this was not a welcome sight to the end of a long day.

Silver lining: After calling AAA and saving myself from having to do the hard work, I drove home on my donut and averaged 57 mpg since I was only going 60 mph. Talk about making lemonade.

Beijing 2008 - Soccer Coverage on NBC

I spent a decent portion of the weekend watching Olympic trials and getting all hyped up about the Olympics. When we got home, I found this little clip from the New York Times: NBC is launching 4 new channels this summer to provide exclusive coverage of the Olympics. One of the 4 channels will be dedicated to showing Olympic soccer 12 hours a day. That little piece of news is almost good enough to help me get over the Euro 2008 withdrawal...especially since Cox is one of the cable networks who has signed up to air the special channels.

Greatest Best Country God Has Ever Given Man on the Face of This Earth

Well, I guess there is one better way to end the 4th of July weekend than with a picture of my dog. If you are a fan of Fox News, Sean Hannity, Stephen Colbert, Mole People, America, Venn diagrams, Norway, or just plain good humor - watch this and enjoy your Monday morning.





Awesome.

Irresistible

No better way to end a long weekend spent playing with family and dog then with this one of a soaking wet and squinty eyed Jozy after one of her play dates. Click on the image to zoom in a bit and get a better sense of how cute our little mutt can be. Tomorrow it is back to work. Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekends and celebrated July 4th in style. We had a blast in Arkansas.

Hades

That's what it felt like when I just got out of the car in Alexandria, LA. Holy smokes it is hot in this state. Less bugs than Arkansas though, who would have guessed...I have about 30 mysterious bug bites all over my body.

Dogobie Action Shots

We're headed back home this morning and I am almost done posting pictures from our multiple trips to the lake. Really I am. It's tough though because some of these shots are really awesome. Check out these two photos of my wife and Jozy in action. The one up top just might end up in a frame in our house somewhere. The one below is cool just because you get to see Jozy in mid-flight as my wife pulls a Charlie Brown - she invites her to jump and grab the dogobie only to pull it away mid-flight.

Go Fetch

We went back to Lake Balboa today to play more fetch with Jozy. My wife wasn't there the first time Jozy went into the lake so she really wanted to go back and see Jozy play in the water. Jozy is definitely a smart dog. In no time at all, my wife was wading in and she was the one fetching the stick for Jozy!

They make a cute couple.

Ajax Shirt Swap

If you read any soccer blogs on a regular basis you have probably heard abut this already. Each summer, clubs around the work unveil their new kits for the upcoming soccer season. Ajax decided they would do so by descending on the streets of Amsterdam and trade the new kit with anyone who happened to be about. Check it out. Awesome idea.

Soccer Commercials

The Red Card posted its list of the top 20 soccer commercials. I hadn't seen either of these before and I thought both were particularly good. Click here to see the complete list. Some of these bring back great memories of the last World Cup.

Toma Lo Bueno (Coca Cola)

Budweiser Soccer Academy

Volkswagen's One-Liter Car gets 235 mpg

This awesome Volkswagen concept car is moving from concept to production lines in 2010. Too bad they are only doing so in a limited fashion at the moment. This car gets 235 mpg. Yes. 235. Price tag is somewhere south of $47K.

In order to keep the coefficient of drag down, it uses video cameras instead of side view mirrors and the passenger sits behind the driver.

(via Neatorama, via Wired, via Car Magazine Online)

...and a little bit of Retriever?

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July from Arkansas! Jozy went swimming for the first time ever today! Well, she played fetch in Lake Balboa, went out in the water until she couldn't run and would come back. So I had to keep the sticks within a certain distance. It's a great start however. It was particularly funny when Jozy decided to attack the waves.

Anniversary

4 years ago today I asked my wife to marry me in a town called Grasmere in the Lake District of England.

Hot Dog

Jozy always gets new toys when she visits Arkansas. She likes it here.

3rd of July

We've spent all day driving to Hot Springs, Arkansas and are finally getting close to our destination - Jozy's grandparent's house (aka my wife's parents). Jozy's been sleeping the whole ride and is ready to rock.

Dogobie

Jozy has a new toy - her dogobie. It is awesome and I highly recommend it for anyone with a dog who likes to fetch or play frisbee. The real news though is that Jozy can catch it in mid-flight!

Cassini–Huygens

Enough about my bad day. Let's clear the air with these amazing photos found on The Big Picture. These pictures were taken by Cassini–Huygens, a spacecraft launched by NASA in 1997 and sent to explore Saturn. Amazing.

Helmet - Unsung

This song works as well. I'll just switch back and forth between NIN and Helmet until all of my angst is gone.

Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole

I'm having one of those days where a song like this just makes you feel better.

Lysander Spooner

For some reason the US Postal Office locations in Lafayette have removed two major convenient innovations introduced within the last couple of years.

1. We used to have a self service mailing station where you could weigh packages and buy postage for those packages without having to wait in the long customer service line. Not many people used it. And thus, the USPS got rid of it rather than socialize their customers on its use and promote greater adoption (e.g. self check-in kiosks at the airport). I am not sure if these package stations were eliminated around the country or just in my town. If you have one in your local Post Office, feel free to rub it in.

2. We used to be able to buy stamps without waiting in line as well. But now they have officially removed the vending machine from all Post Offices in Lafayette. I wish I knew why. The long lines at the Post Office are what keep me away from it. Removing the tools that help customers avoid long delays will simply keep me away more.

Stamps and postage are the primary source of revenue for the USPS So making it harder to buy them seems pretty counterintuitive to me. Can you say Lysander Spooner?

Sigur Rós - Gobbledigook - Stills Version

The new Sigur Rós album (this may be the only band from Iceland that I listen to) hit the streets and it is awesome. It is called, "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust", which translates to "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly."

They made their first appearance on a Monthly Mix called I Found It with a song called Hoppípolla. This song is called Gobbledigook and is available for free download at their official website. Enjoy your Tuesday morning with a little Vonlenska.

Note: This video is relatively safe for work since it is the still frame version. The actual video version is NSFW, since it features young adults partaking in nudism...