Random Thoughts For Soccer's Lost Boys Friday June 18, 2010

As much as I’ve championed my unhealthy obsession with everything World Cup over the past week and a half, if you are any sort of fan of the beautiful game you really need to spend sometime with the people from Vanguard and their new documentary Soccer’s Lost Boys.

This expectational little feature examines the disturbing growth of the black market trade of young African Soccer players. Where 12 year old kids are sold like hockey cards and crocked agents swindle the improvised parents of these kids for all their money, only to abandon them illegally in some of Europe’s largest metropolitan centres. Forcing many into a life of drug pushing and male prostitution just to survive.

So while everyone’s screaming madly about the world cup and the glory it brings, not everything is Sparkles and Sunshine in the world of futball.

And by the way, if you haven’t familiarized yourself with Vanguard, do yourself a favour and check out their impressive list of features.

First – I’ve mentioned this before, but Navin Vaswani’s Stealing Home is easily one of the most entertaining features to appear in the Globe and Mail. But the last article regarding Doc Holiday’s perfect game is a really interesting piece on routing for an ex-player, if only for the comment that more people have orbited the moon than thrown a perfect game.

Second – I’m sorry, but is Kate Hudson the new Paris Hilton? First she infected Owen Wilson and then A-rod (which I’m openly comfortable with), but now it looks like she has her man-eater eyes set on the lead singer of Muse. Oh say it ain’t so

Third – Kevin Costner Likes this

Favorite – David Beckham Doesn’t Like This

Fifth – These are the companies in your Neighbourhood.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve become more and more involved with iPhone App development. Obviously, I haven’t reached the plateau of actually launching my own iPhone app, but through the dev camps and the launch of yycapps.com, I’ve been trying to get involved with the community and help out. (And as a disclaimer I’ve also invested in the iPhoenix Fund – the company behind this next app)

One of the latest apps to make it big out of Calgary is the game Sigma from bigstackstudios. As of today, Sigma now sits 16ht and 17th in the Canadian and US apps stores respectively.

While, I could go on about how awesome it is, you should read the new review on yycApps about sigma, which includes a cameo from my wife.

Sixth – Nintendo made some noise at E3 this past week, with news that it’s releasing some interesting games this year. So… Do you think if I purchase the Mario Volleyball/Hockey game, I think I might be able to smuggle in The new Zelda game under the radar?

I think it’ll work.

Seventh – It looks like Twitter’s recent downtime is not regulated to issues with fanatic World Cup fans and that bloody Vuvuzela. It looks like it’s a much larger issue (via. alfgoetz.

Eighth – This link comes via, the always entertaining, Mr. Arnott – Comic Sans’ open rebuttal to all it’s haters

When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I’m banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I’m shredding “Reign In Blood” on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I’m racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who’ll kill me if I don’t cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.

Ninth – So many naughty girl comments… so little time. Two Dutch MiniDress Girls arrested in Johannesburg for their part in a Guerrilla marketing campaign at the world cup.

Tenth – I purchased this shirt and I really think you should too.

Elventh – This is All I have...

Categories: the-2010-world-cup, The-Football, The Blogosphere, The Calgary Vibe, The Humourous, The Inane, The Pop-Culture, The T-Shirts, The Twitter-verse, The VideoGames

Random Thoughts For The Hilarious Welshman Friday September 21, 2007

Alright, I’m not particularly fond of the Welsh. Mainly because I once had a sadistic Welshman as a prof who was completely incomprehensible and constantly smelt like the bog; but Welsh stand-up comic Rhod Gilbert (The Luggage Guy from my previous post) has had me skiting for the past few days.

The combination of his accent and his delivery are pure genius. He’s no Tracey Morgen, but he’s fahking close. Check out the second part of his stick at the Comedy Store on You Tube or just absorb the Third part of his show below.

Warning: It starts off talking about sex shops – therefore it’s probably NSFW.

First – The Foo-est Nerd in the world slams Paris Hilton. Long live Dave Grohl.

Second – ... And then Vince admits that he’s in love with her.

Third – The big news in the world of English Premier Football is that the oddly eccentric and brilliant manager José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (or the Special One for short) has walked away from Chelski. Stylish, hilarious and the possibly the best manager in the game – I would hate to be a Chelsea F.C. supporter right now.

Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 percent sure that the melon is good. Sometimes you have beautiful melons but they don’t taste very good and some other melons are a bit ugly and when you open them, the taste is fantastic. – The Special One

Fourth – Can’t go wrong with a bright blue Twitter Shirt.

Fifth – Looks like poor George has bailed of his bike. I’ll admit that that Hour is totally a Canadian comfort that I missed dearly in Ireland. Hopefully this doesn’t mess up the new season.

Sixth – The most pointless addition to any lyrics web site. (thnx kottke.org)

Seventh – For all those Man-At-Arms fans a pretty classic He-man Desktop Wallpaper. And for all those dudes who where hugged by their mum a little too much a wicked She-ra Desktop Wallpaper.

Eight – American Apparel Models Freed in Midnight Raid – Priceless! (thanxs D.A.)

Nine – For the record. Yes, I am back home in Calgary.

Categories: The-Random, The-Football, The Humourous, The Inane, The Music, The Pop-Culture, The T-Shirts, The Urban

Random Thoughts For Irish Fry-Ups Friday August 24, 2007

Another episode of the laaaaame ctoverdrive video blogging series.

Actually I’m pretty proud of this one. For the record it was a mighty fine delicious breakfast.

Hmmmmmm….Black Pudding.

First – How in god’s name does one exchange a Rocket Launcher for Reeboxs! Secondly why Reeboxs, were they out of new balance or L.A. Gear?

Second – 50 Cent vs. Data Rock (via the hoodinternet)

For the record that was not house music.

Third – Kasper Schmicheal is like the Mini Me to Michael Peter Schmiechael

Fourth – A glance into the Moleskin notebooks of some of the world’s most influential thinkers.

Fifth – I seriosuly have to lay of the peytoe, because what the fuck is this flickr group about? Is this cat’s on acid? Motha Fuck.

Sixth – A long with the Flames, every hockey team will be realsing new tight fitting Reebox jerseys. Some jerseys won’t be changing by much and others like the new Senators Jersey are in for a major overhaul.

Seven – Moutain Dew Limited Edition – halo 3 Game Fuel

So anyways it would be fun to imagine how that conversation went, because somewhere along the line, for some reason I cannot even begin to wrap my head around, someone decided that a good marketing campaign would center around a soda that tastes like a mouthful of Starburst-flavored condoms.

Eight – More Foo Fighter Flickr goodness

Categories: The-Random, The-Football, The Adventures, The Beverages, The Flames, The Food, The Music, The Pop-Culture, The Urban, The VBlog

Sunder-Ire-land Thursday August 16, 2007

As mentioned in a previous post, one of the big stories in town is Sutherland AFC’s ascension to the English Premier League and Roy Keane’s first Premier League match as a head coach.

The most comparable explanation I can think of is the sort of vibe around town is very similar to what it was like when Sutter took over the Flames at the start of the 03-04 season. Keane has a no bullshit/work your ass off approach very similar to Sutter and a very similar death stare.

With the help of an Irish/Sunderland legend Neil Quinn the Sunderland team has become the defacto Irish team in the Premier league. Something like nine of the top players are of Irish decent. In response to the increased interest in the team across the country Ryan air has actually opened up a couple of extra flights from Irish destinations to NewCastle (Home of the Sunderland FC), while the Irish Times has now dedicated a section of their sports section solely to the Sunderland Team. It’s a very strange and exciting at the same time. (As you can see my allegiance to English Football Teams is about as strong as three year olds’ attention span)

Last Saturday Sunderland opened the English Premier season with a dirty win against one of the top five teams in the league Tottenham. I went down to the Rob Roy, which is a huge Roy Keane hang out. Most of the walls were adorned with Roy Keane memorabilia and the place was packed with people eager to see how Keane’s first match would turn out.

Needless to say Sunderland has already stumped much of the British pundits with one win and a tie against Birmingham City, with a rag-tag crew of mediocre players. But things are looking up as the club is already in the hunt for a couple more players and with the ground swell of support is looking to make a decent dent in the Premier league.

Categories: The-Adventures, The-Football, The HomeLand, The Inane, The Pop-Culture

Hargreaves' Song Sunday July 2, 2006

I find it only fitting that on Canada Day, the ballsiest performance in two crucial matches of the World Cup was from a Canadian.

First off, losing again on penalties to an embarrassing Portuguese team is a pretty disappointing end to the World Cup for England. But watching Hargreaves’ inspired play yesterday was probably one of the most satisfying moments of this year’s tournament. Not only was his tackling constantly spectacular, but the pace at which he played throughout the entire 120 minute match was phenomenal. When you pill on the circumstances; England down their Wayne Rooney and team captain off on the sidelines, Owen’s performance was far more outstanding. From his game saving tackle on Christiano Ronaldo to his full tilt attacks at the Portuguese net in the final minutes of the game, Owen was phenomenal. Rightfully so, Hargreaves was declared Man of the Match by FIFA officials. And as he left the field he was given a heroic send off by 100,000 British fans, many of which were clamoring for his dismissal from the squad days earlier.

Which is why I think it was so that fitting that a Calgarian was the star of the match on Canada Day. There is this grandiose notion that Canadians are supposed to be strong, heroic and hardworking individuals who constantly perform in the face of adversity. It is something we have all been force feed since grade school. We all know the Canadian Way began with the victory at Vimy Ridge. But since then the national conflicts have been few and far between, so this notion has been had transposed on to our obsession with Hockey. Playing the Canadian way means you are playing with a special level of skill, grit and determination that no other nation can supposedly match; it’s just how Canadians play. It is how we defeated the dreaded Russkies in ‘72 and was how we recaptured the Olympic gold medal in Salt Lake City.

On Saturday Hargreaves brought that same intensity and everyone the world over witnessed it. With the Portuguese rolling on the ground as if their collective uteruses had exploded, Hargreaves kept on challenging their forwards with a furious intensity. He left everything on that pitch. He played in a manner that is usually only reserved for the legends of Hockey. He did everyone proud and played the Canadian Way.

I know it sounds like I’ve got a massive hard on for Hargreaves, but watching him blazing down the field and tackling with such authority was a very patriotic moment. I doubt I am not the only one in Calgary who felt the same way. It seemed like everyone at the Drum was screaming Hargreaves on. With that level of unity for one of our own and such an outstanding performance, it was truly one of the most rewarding ways to celebrate Canada.

So Here, here Mr. Hargreaves.

Categories: The-2006-World-Cup, The-Football, The 2006 World Cup, The Football, The Pop-Culture, The Soapbox