All in the game

Being a fan of family guy some of the latest episodes have been some of the best and most random efforts. I particularly like the sarcastic twitterings of stewie, the baby born with the personality of upper class 1930’s English playwright (you know the one I am talking about). Listen to some of his better efforts here and here. I particularly like the the first one where is voice goes higher and higher, pure genius. I think I find him funny not so much for his sardonic wit as much as his pathetic state. I may upload some of his better efforts later on and discuss some of the other tv shows that I enjoy.

On the eve of the third one day match between England and Australia, the mood seems to have decidedly turned. Common consensus appears to be that Australia have found their feet and will steamroller England in the remaining matches and eventually the entire summer. What seemed to be the prevailing wind of their waning powers, see Atherton, has turned around to include such ominous quotes as

Having seen a lot of Australia these past three years, I do not buy into the theory that their powers are waning. Personnel have changed but only in Jason Gillespie has there been any discernible ease off the throttle. If there is a difference, it is the way they play. The batsmen score quicker than ever, which brings the entertainer tag along with a hint of vulnerability, but the bowlers frequently resort to long spells of attrition.

by Mark Nicholas in the Telegraph. Though I am a bit wary about his opinion as this could just be an attempt to land another commentating job for the Australian cricket summer. I remember him commentating on the India-Australia series down under. Why?

However, such a turnaround does indicate a certain lack of belief among the media and the public about the possibility of actually defeating Australia. I am still of the opinion that England’s bowling attack is extremely potent and has the capability of doing serious damage in the tests. Remember Australia, especially this batting line-up, haven’t played a decent, sustained and potent pace attack for well over 10 years, since the West Indian pacers were roaming the planet.

On a slightly different note I want to rant on a little about sky sports’ cricket coverage. This is particularly pertinent as from next year all cricket coverage on UK screens will be only available on Sky. Though overall they do a good job in getting the balance of commentary right, there is still some room for improvement. I find Botham, Hussain and Gower are extremely comfortable in front of the camera and seem to have things to add that have some insight and relevance, though occasionally Botham seems to go on some random rant against the ’system’ that can, in equal parts, be confusing and aimless. But special mention must be given to Bob Willis. He has got to have the most boring voice on tv - a cross between a bus droning and an older bus droning. He seems to constantly negative, even seeking to turn good pieces of cricket into bad play by the opposition. When his face is on tv, he often appears as though a dead rat has just died in the room but not before it has had a million babies that have torn into his flesh and are slowly eating his inner organs. To a lesser extent David Lloyd’s commentary can be a bit bizarre, seemingly relying on phrases and statements that have no meaning and perhaps he just made up. As evidence I present the time when in the charity game, between asia and the rest of the world, with the score at something around the 130 mark at the 14th over with 4 wickets lost, he went on to proclaim that asia were in a bit of a ‘dish’ but would easily surpass the 200 mark because the pitch was flat and there was a full crowd in the stadium. But perhaps most bizarre are the times when on an interview panel, like a post match analysis, he often responds to the interviewers question by looking straight into the camera often to the point of turning his back to the interviewer asking the question. Though endearing for short spells this can get extremely annoying over long periods of time. I think Sky have to seriously consider shedding some of the less impressive commentators and poach some of the Channel 4 commentators that are going to be out of work. Atherton would be a useful addition.

Just check this link about an open letter to an american education board highlighting the absurdity of their stance on teaching creationism in schools. I especially like the graph - pirates vs global temperature - huh?

Also read about the experience of a black teacher in Japan. I like the hilarious ‘kids in japan are perverted‘. The punchline by the twelve year old japanese kid had me in tears of laughter for about a minute.

A tired link to famous movie quotes. These lines are made famous by the context in which they were said, but they have become so repeated hardly anyone knows the context and become just cliched pieces of crap.

Just saw a documentary on the BBC about an African School in Uganda.
It gave an insight into the struggles of education in a provincial Ugandan school. Crippled by debts, the headmistress is forced to ask students who haven’t paid their fees to leave the school. Thus begins a fairly ruthless expulsion of students who haven’t paid the fees. Read the background to the story here. It was fascinating to watch a show where kids were trying to break into the school to achieve an education. As the headmistress says:

The moment you are educated it means a good job - it means everything.

Particularly frustrating was the story of Eddie who was orphaned at five to parents dying of aids and was struggling to pay the fees, when he gets hit by malaria but still tries everything he can to pay the school fees. Puts into perspective how lucky I am to be able to finish my education after having spent the best part of four years bitching about it.

The programme was an excellent insight into a world that would otherwise be unseen but raised a couple of questions in my mind. Who the hell is in charge of programme scheduling at the BBC? Putting it on at half past midnight hardly seems of any use to anyone at all. I thought this was an excellent opportunity to market this as a reality tv show that seem to be a dime a dozen. I believe if it was played in prime time, it would be an excellent counterpoint to programmes like Big Brother that show the boredom and levels of moronity that seems to permeate reality tv shows. This documentary seems a hundred times more real, showing people having to deal with problems greater than the aimless, pointless, worthless, crap they have to do on other shows. Given that they are not showing it at any reasonable hour, why the hell should British people be paying for a set of programme makers travel to Africa to make a tv show for British tv that no Britisher is going to watch. If the attitude is: the public don’t give a flying crap about some African kids school, then why the hell make the show that won’t be seen. If you ain’t going to give the show a decent run, then why bother making it at all. At least they should allow the free downloading of the programme from the net. I have finished ranting for now, but I am tired I may have a second wind in the morning in which case I will post some more.

After the graduation came the inevitable goodbyes. Being one of the friends’ (Sheriff, happy 21st!) birthdays, it provided the perfect opportunity to get together for perhaps the last time (i keep forgetting about the graduation itself). We met at Nando’s, a fine restaurant. It proved the perfect place for discussion of the past and our forthcoming future, ‘huh’? Typically conversation seemed to drift into bizzare directions (mostly by my initiation), with ideas about the writing of a new novel- a heady and exciting story of an Anglo-japanese undergraduate student solving disturbing mysteries of the wierd goings on in the college library - with sexy results (search the page for sexy results). What’s wrong with me, I promise I have no affinity for the college library, oh who am I kiddin’, Library - let’s never fight again.

Of course, being Imperial graduates (though not for a few days yet), every aspect of the course was disected and analysed. Particular delight seemed to be expressed at my nightmare presentation. With all the things done, it seemed as though people were starting to return to their normal selves again, but the long term effects of chronic exam addiction is not known. Damn, that’s a weak joke, sounds like something an extremely boring person, who was just learning English from a language that nothing do with Inglish would write.

Finally, we went to see ‘Batman Begins‘. A thouroughly enjoyable movie, though there was some debate as to why an opera house would be placed in the middle of the run down part of town, if you are taunting the poor by putting down an opera house to show them what they are missing, you deserve to get shot, right?

Above is a photo taken outside the cinema theatre (an important picture of a close friend is missing and will be added when i get the picture of him - I know, its ‘fucked’ up). Click on the link below the photo and go to the flickr site to view notes that I have attached to the faces. For some reason, IE seems to f up, the position of the photos and margins, for best results view in firefox.

Friends

update: received the new pic of the other dude and am adding the picture into it. click pic to visit notes on it.

Zaid included

As the 2nd England vs Australia ODI is about to kick there appears to be a change of mood across the summer. I remember the ashes summer of 2001 where England failed to win a single ODI match against Australia or Pakistan, this lead to a serious crisis of confidence within the team and they had already lost a couple of tests in the mind. But this time around there appears to be genuine belief within the team about their prospects. Witness this statement by Steve Harmison

“Why would England hide me? Would Australia hide Glenn McGrath or Brett Lee?”

This brims with the confidence of player who has shaken his loss of confidence in South Africa to really hit top gear this summer. However, the caveat has to be that such confidence can turn in a single moment. I suppose that’s why momentum is such a crucial thing in cricket or any other sport. England have serious advantages going into the game. Their bowling appears faster, the batting more powerful (a la Pietersen) and the fielding sharper. I think the worrying thing from the aussie point of view is that I can’t see where they are going to be able to gain on England this summer. Comments have been made about how badly they are playing, and although the batting hasn’t fired like it can do, I can’t see any improvement forthcoming from the bowling department. The addition of Shane Warne will make a difference but if the pace bowlers are struggling to take early wickets and maintain pressure, then his effectiveness will be reduced.

Finally, back to today’s game, I am hoping for an Aussie thrashing, but I really hope that Chester-le-Street provides a fast pitch that allows Flintoff and Harmison to rough up the Aussie batsman. But most of all I hope Flintoff can recapture his batting form and really hurt the opposition with his unique combination of skill and brute force. His batting seems to be going through a bit of an extended slump from the end of the last English summer, when he was just imperious. His form in South Africa and through this summer hasn’t been great, but if he is able to use the next match against Bangladesh and the few ODI’s against Australia to recapture some of the form of last summer, the Aussie could have a serious problem on their hands.

I have finished my graduation from Imperial College. Four years of stuff and junk later, here I am. Wherever here is, I am not looking forward to it. Anyhoo, I will put up a post of greater significance at a later date, or whatever.

Imperial College