The Group of 16 and a symphony

I just watched South Korea blow their chances and all of Asia's chances for a berth in the next round by losing to Uruguay.  Yeah, yeah, the better team won, but this tournament has not been one that has followed this particular golden rule.  I am picking the Netherlands and Brazil to win, but I cannot stomach the idea of either the USA (go Ghana!) or the UK making past this round.  The Brits don't deserve to do anything, and the US does not care enough to deserve it. It has to be a real mix of teams that have something to prove and others that will show their best once they play the best.  That is what makes the Cup finals great.

Oh, and that symphony?  Click here and find out what it's all about (bound to happen one day)...

Too Much, Too Little, Too What...?

Is there such a thing as too much and too little of the same thing at the same time?  I have become a World Cup junkie over the last week and a half, and I cannot even claim that I have a team in the tournament.  This may be a good thing.  I just read a piece in Macleans on Canada's special status on being on the outside and inside of things while the teams kick each other out of play.

But I still wonder... That roommate of mine, the one from France, won't even talk about what happened to his team (he was right - their coach was and continues to be an asshole surrounded by a bunch of spoiled idiots).  I tried not to mention South Africa sticking it to them with their one win of the entire tournament (pretty bad for a host nation) and could not contain myself.  There are no other African nations left for the Group of 16, but it was good to see at least one big win like this.

I think the heat is getting to me.  And the endless rounds of play.  And the early morning matches.  And the general fesitivalitis that settles on anyone living in Montréal during the summer.  I truly envy the ones who care nothing for this tournament (they much have such stable lives and get plenty of sleep). 

But I am still watching... 

The River of Hair (poem)

I wrote this a while back and forgot about it.   There was a lot of positive response to this, especially from women (always important to a male poet), and it is unfortunate that it cannot be put on this screen the way I wrote it :

The river of hair

behind the precious stone

of skin and warmth

I feel strength there

like that short space I touch

in an embrace

the curve, the mystic curve

There is a private set

of mathematics pulses below

some peak in a glance

just in the subtlety of

bone sense breathing

energy and now light

waiting in you

I could let myself

swim through this, coming through

the depth into some air

that we are sharing in a

closeness space

intents in what we are

still perceiving

an image of my hands in

space warmth and the

last touch of the you in me

The New Stupidity

What a week...

The Lakers beat the Celtics right at the wire (my roommate still hasn't forgiven the boys from Boston for losing in the other one's yard); Mexico beat France (my roommate is from France - not a good week for him); and then there is this: my beloved Habs - Montréal Canadiens to those in the know - traded Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues for two other unknown prospects. 

There is not much else on the minds of sports fans here.  Yes, the World Cup is a nice distraction for a month, but there are things which trump futbol and the NBA finals in the minds of les Montréalais.  People are in disbelief at this particular shock-and-awe tactic from the team's head office.  With a rise in the temperature and no chance for the main French-speaking team of the soccer tourney to make it, Halak is the issue.

Number 41, we hardly knew yea...  You dragged us all the way to the finals past the number one and the top-scoring teams of the NHL and then they do this to you.  Yes, it proves that money is the final issue in sports (which explains why so many players choke when it counts - again, I am looking at you, Italy...and France, etc.) There may not be another Canadian team holding aloft Lord Stanley's best for a long time.

Wonder who is going to end up in our yard...

The Jabulani

Okay, now soccer (or futbol, if you prefer)...

I am really into it this year, especially with the strangeness of the World Cup results (Switzerland over Spain, anyone?).  And then there is the ball, the Jabulani, designed by Adidas AG by Hans-Peter Nuernber, the senior engineer with the company.

This is what I learned (from the Globe and Mail): "The ball features several high-tech innovations, including tiny bumps on its surface aimed at stabilizing its trajectory." 

That's right: they are playing the World Cup with a great big golf ball.

Goalkeepers are saying that the ball is unpredictable.  I sympathize: I am writing this a day after playing a game of pick-up soccer (sorry, futbol) with a friend and various kids and adults who wanted to get into it.  I was in the net and got stomped.  No, we did not use the Jabu, but I got it into my head that the ball was possessed (three goals in ten minutes!?!).

But this is fun.  Apart from the drone of the vuvuzelas, this is a good kick in the pants for a bunch of spoiled, overpaid brats who complain about the noises in the stands and take dives when the wind passes through their hair (I am looking at you, Italy). 

Keep kicking those golf balls!

Twelfth Night Beliefs

Some are born great.
Some achieve greatness.
Some have greatness thrust upon them...

Some step knee-deep into greatness when they're not looking.
Some think it's great to be around great people.
Some great things now aren't that great later.
Sometimes being great is not meant for everyone.
Some great ideas never get heard.
Some achievements are great in themselves.
Some are great in hindsight.
Some thrusts of greatness can be great (if handled properly).
Some think it is great to have things thrust upon them.
Some great work is born out of achieving greatness.

Sometimes greatness remains unspoken.

Random Truths (Part IV)

- If I met the woman of my dreams today, I would drop dead tomorrow

- Weekly magazines are always hypocritical

- People who don't wear watches are dangerous

- You daily routine should include one surprise

- Comedy is born out of repression

- Drama comes from never learning to be quiet

- For an English-speaking person, using French is like walking through a tightly-packed antique shop

- For a French-speaking person, using English is like travelling through a set of countries with too many boundaries and not enough maps

- Humour never ages well, unless it is physical comedy

- You only have a certain period during the day when you can do certain things properly

Random Truths (Part III)

- The writer Samuel Beckett was once stabbed by a pimp named Prudent; which means I will probably be killed by a man called Frugal

- Stationery can be addictive

- Sleep is a form of self-hypnosis

- If you want to live a long life, talk to an old person; if you want to live a happy life, play with your children

- It is not possible to live without chocolate

- A woman's eyes can kill

- Dating always has a romantic basis, despite the end results

- A family tree is a blueprint of where you came from, not where you are going

- You should never judge a book by its cover; you should judge it by whose reading it

- Your pets have strong feelings for you

Random Truths (Part II)

- A portable listening device can give you a whole other world to live in

- Television and computer screens seem to be staring at you when they are not on

- There is no such thing as good luck; there is only bad luck and celebrities

- It is easier to hurt the people you love than the stranger you do not know

- People in the West prefer food to sex (more variety)

- Writing with a pen or pencil never feels the same as typing

- There is too much pressure to live up to the demands of Saturday night

- Reality TV has the most unreal content on television

- Misery can be addictive

- Radio is the sexiest form of mass communication

Random Truths (Part I)

- There is no "I" in "team," but you do have the letters "m" and "e"

- You always have a runny nose at the wrong time

- A yawn only seems private

- Spending money can be orgasmic

- Alcohol never lives up to its promise

- Pornography is clever in hiding its dullness

- You learn a lot about yourself after you have been robbed

- Philosophy is the frame; literature is the painting

- Cellphones will soon be too complicated or small for anyone to use

- A clean room never stays clean; a dirty room never changes

The Sell Out (Part 8)

"My judgement, as of now, is that I am the best." - Pierre Elliot Trudeau

Just watching clips of the former prime minister of Canada on the CBC archives and I wonder about politics and the necessity of selling out.  With any leader, there will be moments when they have to give up former positions and beliefs in order to survive.  Trudeau, more than any other Canadian politician in the last fifty years, was able to shift with the political winds and spar with the opposing parties, media, and his own conscience.

I should also say that I am reading the second half of John English's biography of Pierre Trudeau (appropriately enough, the title is "Just Watch Me" ) and I still marvel at what the man was able to do in our particular hemisphere.  Would I draw a parallel with any other leader?  Yes, I think that it is apropos: Barack Obama.  A charismatic politician with little experience on the national level is suddenly thrust into the glare of the media and public opinion.  He is popular, but that popularity becomes sorely tested by the realities of the job. 

And whenever these types of leaders leave office, there is always a favorable reassessment.  Not bad for a couple of sell outs...

The Sell Out (Part 7)

A Quote on Los Angeles:

"If I close my eyes, and picture L.A., all I see is one big varicose vein." - Marilyn Monroe

Can an entire city be a sell-out?  I have been thinking about this with the recent deaths of Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper.  I know that this may seem excessive - or just perverse - but I have to see both losses as a symptom of that town we all know and exaggerate: Hollywood, the place where dreams come to die. 

I've been there.  We went to Los Angeles when I was eleven years old.  It was a road trip from Canada to California and I loved it, even the bad food, incredible heat, and uncomfortable sleeping arrangements (usually in a van).  But what I remember most is the end of that trip in SoCal.  Dust, desert scrub, expensive houses surrounded by dead air.  We visited a mall and it felt like the last days of Rome (decadent and dying); I went swimming at a man-made lake (perverse again; I only saw the beach once) and was surrounded by the youth of L.A.  It was like the DMZ between the Koreas or the neutral zone in "Star Trek".  You had to learn fast how to deal with the unexpected.  A lot for an eleven-year-old, but still...

So, celebrity death and selling out: they do go together.  I am more convinced of this as the deaths and scandals roll on.  When I was there, I had that inexplicable feeling that I was trespassing.  It was not a place that belonged to me culturally, emotionally or psychologically.  After that trip by van, we had to take a plane home.  Part of me is glad about this.  Getting out that air space helped me think about what I had seen and done.  Again, I was only eleven.

You will be missed, Misters Hopper and Coleman.  We can only hope that there is peace for you both now...

The Sell Out (Part 6)

More on music:

I have been thinking about hip-hop and how it has definitely sold out.  Yeah, that sounds like blasphemy, but there is something seriously wrong with the whole culture when the wife of the biggest producer in rap music today can sing at the White House and no one blinks.

Don't get me wrong.  I think things are great with the industry (the only part of the music biz that is still making good money).  I remember how hated it was and when teachers would warn us against listening to it.  Now, I hear rap in commercials for children's cereal.  I see hip-hop characters in children's programming.  I have heard reporters - who had no right to do so - use "bling" and "shorties" without any sense of irony...

Stetsasonic, Public Enemy, EPMD and NWA, come home.  Your culture needs you...

The Sell Out (Part 5)

Q: "Will success spoil U2?"
A: "I certainly hope so."   - Bono in interview (1981)

I had to post that today, and this photo (from May 29th, 1981 at the New York Palladium - Bono with a lucky fan).  It has just been announced that U2 will not tour North America this year.  Bono has injured his back and will not be able to play his role as frontman.  He should take a break.  As a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize who has also been married to the same woman for almost thirty years, he deserves some sort of rest.

I have never seen the band live (it is either see them live or eat for a month and I have often chosen the latter).  I was a fan of the group by the age of seven when I first saw them on the former CITY-TV program called "The New Music" and Bono made his comment on fame with a smile and a laugh.  I could not hold that against him.  No one I knew had heard of the band and they would not be global superstars for at least another six years.  But I was hooked.

Now, dear web surfer, you know that I love the Who (a band that U2 has cited as an influence) and that I feel bad about their particular career arc.  With U2, it is not the same sort of love, but there is affection there and I felt bad when I heard about the tour cancellation.  This is a band that had no choice but to become bigger than the post-Punk/New Wave environment that they grew in, otherwise they would have ended up as just another noise among many other noises.  Selling out for arena rock actually made them seem taller and better in the media's eye.

No wonder I still like them (even if the albums now suck)...

The Sell Out (Part 4)

I'm listening to the Who as I type.  They are going through the motions on "See Me, Feel Me" from Woodstock (great film clip if you are interested).  This band has always intrigued me and I can say that there are very few other groups worth obsessing over.  Yet, they are also a damned frustrating subject when on the topic of selling out.
They famously put out an album in the middle of the Flower Power era called "The Who Sell Out".  "Tommy" soon followed.  It was not the first rock opera, but it was famous enough to inaugurate a whole era of pretentious arena rock.  Even the band knew this (why else would they jump back to their roots with "Live at Leeds"?).  But the toothpaste was out of the tube.  They put out "Quadrophenia", continued to crawl on after an essential member died in '78 (and if you do not know who that was, stop reading right here) and "Tommy" became a bad film and an overrated Broadway musical.
A true sell out, by any standard...   And I still love them.