Preposterous

The Hard Luck Case (Italy) versus The Team of Destiny (France) in the World Cup. Who woulda thunk it?

Dazed and Infused

The Dazed and Infused on draught at the Allen St. Hardware is delicious. The sweet potato fries at the Allen St. Hardware are delicious. The dixieland jazz at the Hardware was chaotic and sleazy, the perfect soundtrack for the Allentown speakeasy experience. I love that place.

2 Out of Four

And yes, I was only 2 out of 4 for my World Cup semi final predictions, BUT, Thierry Henry DID show up so my prediction re: Brazil v. France was sort of correct. The only match I totally blew was my Argentina call, and frankly that was out of partisan love for Argentina.


Does that count as 3 out of 4?



OK OK, no it does not. And what the fuck happened in Germany to Germany? Losing to an Italian side in the heart of a biblical soccer scandal? We're talking about a side that had guys who's club teams are about to be literally banished from the premiere league of Italian soccer. Whoa. That one came out of nowhere. What goals. The first one by Fabio Del Grosso at the death of extra time was profound. The pass back and that bending ball that just caught inside the post- a fucking vision to be sure. I won't even hazard any half assed assessments about Italian national character, but I will say that to almost back into the World Cup semi finals and then win like that... damn. Wow.

The Point Abino International Croquet Tournement

PROPOSED:

An annual tournement of croquet featuring both singles and team play. In the both the singles and team tournement there will be 3 or 4 games varying on the number of entrants, with the top finishers competing in the tournement championship, with the winners recieving a commemorative white straw hats or engraved gin and tonic glasses and the losers The (dreaded) Stickey Wicket.


Stay tuned for more information. Coming in 2007.

Weird

Can somebody explain to my why exactly my farts smell like a bonfire even though I was barely near the ole bonfire, and only a short time ago? YIKES. This has been a beach conundrum for me for some time and if there any scientists or biologists out there with a credible answer I'd love to hear it. Seriously.

The Chimes of Freedom

What the hell happened to the Fourth of July? Usually you've got works of fire (shot off by professionals) shooting off all over the place once it gets dark enough and tonight I saw nothing exciting in my drive back from Canada where we enjoyed dangerous pagan bonfires and all sorts of fireworks fun. Actually Crescent Beach was dead today too- the deadest I have ever seen it. The roads were empty in Fort Erie and Buffalo, and that was hands down the fastest Fourth of July trip over the Peace Bridge back from Canada ever. What's going on? What has happened to our local / national mojo?

At least the Space Shuttle went up (up and away) without incident. That was key.


In any case fuck it. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY. It's a celebration!! Enjoy your freedoms while you can.



UPDATE!!!

Reports are coming in that it fell to ordinary citizens to have their own firework fun all over WNY without official sanction, and that in some parts of WNY we did damn good. Good for us.

Remember folks, the tag line for this here things is: "One man's obessions about life in the United States of America, in Buffalo, and beyond." One man. His loves, his hates, his frustrations, exultations, and small joys. And a lot of talk about inane ass stuff.

Attempts at reading more into anything posted here, or to ascribe ulterior motives are misguided, and if any offense has been given or taken in the course of this experiment I apologize for the discourtesy and any pain I might have caused you. It's a cold world and we've got to stick together.

Impartiality

With all of my teams out of the World Cup I can now offer strictly gut instinct picks based solely an impartial appraisals, and here they are:

GERMANY V. ITALY - Germany all the way. It was a good run for Italy.

PORTUGAL V. FRANCE - France. It's about destiny now. And they did beat Brazil.

A Blow For Truth And Justice

I am an international backyard croquet master... avoiding all the sticky wickets in the tall grass and laying it down in a Red State / Blue State Challenge and YES YES the Blue States won. Cliff and Mimi Donius represtented, sending only our Red State oppponent's roquets and never each others and working our way to victory. That was the key. Cooperation.

"Go Fuck Yourself!"

I really like the customer service techniques on display at the Deadwood Bank as practiced by Trixie and Mr. Ellsworth. I love the voices of these marvelous actors (in particular William Sanderson's poetry spouting Farnum) spouting this wonderful American Shakespeare at each other while depicting our American story always in progress. I really loved the Hostetler "motherfucking" Steve the Jackass Loser, Dan Dougherty (Swearingen's chief thug) talking smack to Hearst's thug, and Al Swearingen's coaching to the electorate. While some might call it derivative I prefer to think that Milch is creating a proto Barney Miller / NYPD Blue as western.

Yikes... transatlantic national grief via satellite TV. Am I a jackal? Probably. But now I'm starting to feel bad... Maybe catching a few minutes of live Sky Sports (that just happened to be on as I was leaving for Canada) was a bad idea. But now the controversy starts. Bloody fantastic.

Ha! Eric Wynalda said Rinaldo cannot return to Man United for his club career! Ha! I said the same thing!

I must be going insane.

Oops, Wayne Rooney will also get some deserved shit for stepping on Christian Rinaldo's nuts and getting sent off. Ah... to be English right now. Wheew.

England's dream is over. The shame of a nation, if such a thing exists and I'm sure it does in England, will hang on the shoulders of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Jamie Carragher for their gaffes in penalty kicks. The roommate is going nuts, and I think TiVO-ing Sky Sports tonight will make for hilarious viewing later on...

I will not pull my hair. That would be crazy. The roommate will however be applying the FULL whammy (both hands, all fingers) at the TV screen everytime Portugal comes near the ball.

Holy smokes... penalty kicks in the England v. Portugal quarterfinal. Right now as we speak any traffic on the roads, streets and lanes in that nation is grinding to an absolute halt, air is being gulped like fish on a dock, and hair is being tussled with love and care in preparation to be pulled sharply by it's owners.

ABC's World Cup coverage makes me wish I was more fluent in Spanish. Where's Tommy Smyth when you truly need him?

There is going to be some SHIT in the Manchester United clubhouse when this World Cup is over between Rooney and Rinaldo, and Sir Ferguson is going to have his hands full. Oh well. To Hell with Man United.

This extra time has been amazing. High drama. The dreams of a nation (not ours) hanging by a thread.

Scrubs Need Not Apply

WNY area soccer / football fans: WANTED, 2 or 3 fellow travellers for a roundtrip balls to the wall roadtrip to East Rutherford NJ to see Barcelona FC trounce Red Bull NY on August 12. All the big names should be playing... our chance to see one of the all time great European teams.

Why are fellow travellers needed? Because the cost of gas is gonna suck ass in August. $40/50 a body for gas won't be too bad at all... We'll drink beer and talk about football.

Scrubs, gun nuts and weirdos need not apply.

Doctor Who: The Three Doctors is the bomb, a lot of fun. The English are the best: their cars, the stiff upper lip, their taste in women's boots, and their capacity for the clever nudge and wink as art. I also like the rock music and science fiction.

Yes... I raided the used Doctor Who bin at the new FYE on Transit.