The Italian team are dirty fecking cheats

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That was a dive. No doubt about it. Grosso is a fecking cheat. That was not a fair end to the game.

I hate teams that progress by cheating. It turns me off, watching the beautiful game ruined by these CHEATS! They did not deserve the penalty. They did not deserve to win. They do not deserve to be in the quarter-finals. I’d even like to propose a ban on Italy for the nest World Cup. This kind of desperate attempt in a game they clearly could not win is ugly and puts the game in bad repute. FIFA needs to come down harder on such teams. Especially if the referee fails to make the correct decision on the pitch.

What’s the point of having a referee and two linsemen if their eyes aren’t open? This incident proves that football *needs* a fourth official, like the replay officials in rugby and cricket. Who knows what the referee was thinking… Perhaps he was trying to make up for his bad decision in sending off the alleged “last man”.

This World Cup is turning out to be the worst in terms of refereeing decisions. The referees have been put under immense pressure to come down hard on foul play. But some have been excessively harsh, yet some turn a blind eye. Lack of consistency makes it unfair on teams. And many of the referees look out of their depth, either lacking competency or just feeling the heat (literally and figuratively). The end result, whatever reason for the bad refereeing: ruined football.

What makes me even more mad is that the ESPN commentators here are saying the penalty was deserved, and in fact, was even “good play”. I don’t think American soccer players, coaches and analysts *get* the point of football. They think that hard, professional fouls are a necessity if the other team looks threatening. They think diving is good tactics. (Or maybe it’s just that the clueless ESPN commentators are total fuckwits. Don’t wish to tar all Americans with the same *dirty* brush.)

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Commencement

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Of their graduate lives…

It’s graduation weekend at UCLA. And what a difference it is from the more sedate ceremonies at Edinburgh. A vast class of over 2000 students “walked” yesterday in UCLA’s basketball stadium to lots of cheers and wolf-whistles. It was a little more like a basketball game than what I’ve been through. The various Deans’ names were broadcast on the central bank ot TV screens (think NBA games), with cuts to the odd pretty face in the crowd of candidates for graduation.

Due to the sheer numbers, the different faculties were conferred their degrees in mass-wedding style, standing with their peers to be declared graduates of UCLA, followed by popping of balloons, tossing of tortillas (dunno what that was all about, and the odd thrown toilet roll). Slap-dash as that may sound, more ceremonies have been planned for this weekend for individual majors.

In all, a fun and interesting cultural experience.

Fitba, US-stylee

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Had a glorious morning off watching the opening ceremony and first game of the 2006 World Cup. (Paid the price by having to work till late tonight; but it was worth it!)

Strangely enough, none of the “sports” channels had coverage of the opening ceremony. Instead, it was up to KXLA, the local Korean news and entertainment channel, to broadcast the feed. It’s rather surprising that, apart from a few ads on Focks Soccer Channel, there hasn’t been much mainstream enthusiasm for a World Cup that features the national team.

Heck, when Scotland occasionally qualifies, all work stops for the duration of the first round (and recommences when bloody England are yet again the only home country to qualify for round two). Yet the only excited folk in my lab and its vicinity are the foreigners. No one else seems aware that a major sports competition, with an audience close to that of the Olympics, kicked off this morning.

The game itself was pretty exciting; 6 goals being abnormally heart-racing for an opener, let alone one that included Germany, the Audi of football. Perhaps their poor qualifier efforts was enough of a kick up their backsides to up their game. Even so, that’s got to be the most appalling German defence in a long time.

And while I didn’t catch the Poland game, it’ll be a fun World Cup if such “upsets” occur with more frequency. Perhaps my personal favourite underdogs: Trinidad and Tobago, will manage to win a match too. Just not against Ingerland.

And you wonder why I’m not happy here…

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Further kick in teeth: I am, as of yesterday, not an official employee of the university. My contract expired, and I fell through the cracks. I am persona non grata.

So while I’m still expected to work all hours, I cannot access my lab out-of-hours or on weekends. Ah ha ha ha. I will not get paid this month. Again. (I didn’t get paid for three months when I first arrived because everyone was too busy and overworked to put me in the system. Not that a foreigner spending a small fortune to pack and store her entire life, fly herself to a new country and pay several months’ rent upfront in LA needs any money…)

Will the constant insults never end?

Conservation, Texas-style

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I’ve always thought of Texas as a truly alien land, possibly biased from an early age from watching those odd “dream” episodes of Dallas. But this takes the biscuit. Something I’ve learned since arriving here is that the American male is always right. This seems to be a country built on the alpha male (not that there aren’t alpha males in other societies, they just bug me more here). And it doesn’t matter what experience or knowledge you have here, if you cannot shout as loud as the alpha male, no one will pay any attention to you. The alpha male will find his viewpoint to be absolutely correct and infallible, failing to take into consideration any obvious logical and moral flaws it may have.

“What species has the Humane Society ever saved?” [Erice White] asks.

“They just want to save one animal – perhaps called Bambi – but we have a long-standing record of saving entire species and entire habitats. Hunting is the only way to generate enough dollars to do it.”

Several things jar about this quote. For one, the point of a “Humane Society” is to seek out and prevent undue cruelty to animals. It’s besides the point to accuse them of not saving a species; it’s not their mandate. And to say so is to throw in a red herring. And I’m not sure these ranch safaris can accurately claim to save “entire species” nor “entire habitats”, as what they must have are small breeding colonies, which will eventually (soon) result in a highly inbred population, plus I wouldn’t call an American ranch a natural habitat of species such as the antelope.

Besides, as humans have advanced beyond the rest of the animal kingdom and no longer need to fear starvation or death-by-bear, what does such hunting satisfy other than the craving to kill?

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I cannae believe it: Scotland scored the *first* try against France!

And as I post this, it’s 10-0…

It’s been near impossible to catch any of the 6 Nations here.

Update: It’s noo 13-3. Chicken-counter P is a wee bit upset that France managed to claw back 3 points before half-time. Him and the other pre-hatch numerators are going to jinx us!

Update: We’re sitting in stunned silence. Can’t quite believe our ears. The last ten minutes were too tense!

This is the best start to a Six Nations campaign in at least a decade. Could it finally be the payoff of having three pro Scottish teams? The maturation of what was a young side a couple of years ago? Change in management style? Certainly, the game sounded less negative than it’s looked for the last three 6 Nations. And relieving Chris Paterson of too many responsibilities sounds like it’s improved his kicking accuracy. Then again, it’s like when Gregor Townsend was playing: when Paterson has a good game, Scotland has a good chance of winning. And having a few fast feet pushing the game forward changes the way the rest of the team plays. This doesn’t change the way Scotland seems to tire towards the end; this time, they could at least play 20 good minutes in the 2nd half, where before they’d be too knackered to defend. France gained a lot of ground and scuppered their chances with two missed conversions, which places some doubt on their chances this year.

Count your chickens all you like; this victory is enough for me.

swamped

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busy busy at work… no lunch for the wicked all this week, nor much of a dinner, so no food posts or photos. 😦

It’s the lunar new year tomorrow, and although I was kinda excited about celebrating it in a city with a large Chinese population when I first arrived, it looks like I’ll be stuck indoors tomorrow redesigning an experiment that I’ve just wasted 6 months on. 😦 But at least I’ve avoided having to actually come into the lab… Haven’t had the time nor inclination to get the usual CNY goodies. Double 😦 At least my parents brought me some mini shrimp rolls when they were here. 🙂 And left me a red packet to open. Double 🙂

And at least I had the presence of mind to buy some clementines at the Farmers’ Market. It’s not Chinese New Year for me unless I gorge myself on mandarins, tangerines and clementines for the first three days. (I can hear my grandma now telling me it’s “heaty” to eat too much citrus…)

Little Tokyo West

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Sawtelle Blvd’s many nurseries beckoned last weekend. Salad leaves may result. Strawberries less likely. A wee Totoro was acquired and someone threw a tantrum until I bought him the neko bus from the giant robot store. And failing to learn his lesson from our visit to BCD Tofu House in Korea Town, someone upset his delicate stomach yet again in Tofu Ya:

Soon Dubu

Ah well. At least he enjoyed eating it.

And on Sunday, we retraced our steps, but replaced soon dubu with ramen two doors down (same lady seems to work in both restaus, and must have thought we’re weirdos who take plants for walks). We like our local Little Tokyo. It feels almost like a warm and exotic version of Stockbridge.

Update: Nothing has died yet, and there are even some small green strawberries on the way (not at all due to our turquoise fingers; they came with wee babies). The mizuna is flourishing, but the poppies look unlikely to flower. An azalea was added to the collection last weekend, and we’re on the hunt for more shade-lovers that produce fragrant flowers. Any suggestions?

CDs, tapes, LPs, MP3s; they all have a place in my life

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Have today’s teens even touched an LP?

Proof my family is weird #567: My dad threw out all his records when cassette tapes became popular, instantly regreting it years later when the quality started deteriorating. And when CDs first appeared, he immediately jumped on the digital bandwagon, and re-purchased his favourite Gramaphone records.

This meant that from my teens onwards, all I used or bought were CDs, with the exception of lots of mixed tapes my friends would record for me. And when CD burners on computers became widespread (in my early twenties, I’m that old), the only tapes I possessed were specifically for P’s beloved 205, made in the pre-CD era (well, not really… I’ve seen 205s with CD decks; his was just the bottom of the range). They were critical for all long car rides beyond the reach of radio waves. (It was either Travis a million times per trip, or us singing Old Macdonald over and over again.)

And at some point during the dreaded PhD years, I bought a dirt-cheap Aiwa in a clear-out sale, which came with a record player. This resulted in my flatmate of the time buying me a few LPs from a charity shop for Christmas; possibly the first time I ever touched a vinyl record. The opening of an Oxfam music shop in Stockbridge fueled the fire, with good second-hand classical albums going for a quid each. A boxed set of the complete Beethoven symphonies could be obtained for under 10 quid!

Admittedly, a lot of the LPs I bought weren’t in tip-top condition (some even had mold!), but for someone who grew up with pristine, crisp, clean, digital sounds, the crackle of a scratched record playing some old jazz has its charms. Sure, not all of them continue to play accurate recordings, but I like to think of my second-hand LPs as aged wines. Different, with character. Perfect on winter evenings with the fire crackling and a glass of wine, or on cool bright summer evenings, dancing around the flat (again with a glass of alcohol in hand).

Now, of course, most of my CD collection lives as MP3s on the computer and MP3 player, and the hard copies, remnant tapes and vinyls sit in a storage cupboard. We left the cheapo Aiwa hifi out for the tenants to enjoy, but stored the turntable safely for our return. I guess you could say we’re retro-technophiles.