This is Awesome

The entire NOVA series The Elegant Universe is available on YouTube. I am a Nerd.

Barça Update: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Him Back

Bow down before me.

Imagine you have a football match tonight. Imagine further that it's against one of the most storied teams in the world. Now imagine that streaking down the left touchline is the future of football not just on this storied team, or in your league, but quite possibly the world. How do you contain him?

If you're Sevilla F.C. (who have the incomprehensable nickname palanganas, or washbowls), you do three things:

First, you bunker your entire team and play for a tie from the opening kick.

Second, you triple team this football wonder, leaving seven men to cover Barça's remaining nine field players.

Third, you foul him like it's going out of style.

On the other hand, if you're Lionel Messi, Argentine wünderkind, you look at all of this, shrug your shoulders, and score. Twice.

I thought Sevilla's bunker defense would keep Barcelona's open play scoreless streak going in La Liga, but Messi hammered home a cracker of a goal in the 77th minute and converted a penalty in the 79th. Apparently, the guy hugging Giovanni dos Santos in the box wasn't showing him love. He was keeping Giovanni from his first league goal and giving Messi his second of the match via the aforementioned penalty.

Sevilla got one back in stoppage time, but 2-1 was a fair result. A bunker defense against a better team is disgusting and gets no style points, but it's does the job. Kind of like Night Train.

La Liga Standings*

1) Real Madrid / 3-0-0 / 9 points / +8
2) F.C. Barcelona / 2-0-2 / 8 points / +3
3) Sevilla / 2-1-0 / 6 points/ +5
4) Valencia / 2-1-0 / 6 points / -1
5) Villareal / 2-1-0 / 6 points / -1




*Pelé Sez: Most of La Liga plays tomorrow, so Barça could be as low as fifth, depending on the outcome of the Valencia game, a win either way in the Murcia-Villareal tilt, and if Racing can hang three on Athletico. I say they finish the weekend in a solid third, and I'm Pelé, so you should listen to me. Love! Love! Love!

It's about time I gave this a listen

So what am I doing at 1:00 AM in Barcelona on a lovely Friday night? Besides recovering from our whirlwind Ikea trip (we totally rocked that trip, and even did it on public transportation)?

Well, I was playing internet poker, but a straight on the river bested my kings. So, I'm finally (read: six months after downloading) listening to The Kleptones' most recent album, 24 Hours. If you haven't heard of The Kleptones, you are seriously missing out. I think they are by FAR the most interesting and technically accomplished mash-up artists. Mash-ups are basically new songs that are composed entirely of old songs, like sampling in hip hop taken to the next level.

You ever notice how The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" and Sublime's "What I Got" have the same chord progression? No? Well then you're not a huge nerd like me. But take those songs, throw them in a digital mixer like Garage Band, play around a bit, and PRESTO! You have a mash-up. Bonus points for songs that you would never think go together, like George Michael's "Careless Whisper" and Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" (not kidding - actual mash-up).

So why take so long to listen to an album I downloaded six months ago? Well, it's not the most accessible Kleptones album, and it's l-o-n-g. Most of their albums have a central thread holding them together, e.g. using Queen tracks in every song, but this album tries to simulate 24 hours of uninterrupted activity, mirroring the moods and situations the protagonist feels waking, working, partying hard, partying harder, and stumbling home. Definitely good stuff, but how often do you have three hours to devote to listening to an album? Right.

In the meantime, I suggest you give The Kleptones a shot, maybe with A Night at the Hip-Hopera or From Detroit to J.A.

Wait, it gets better...

Bush: I Got a B in Econ 101.

Hilarious.

For those of you that want pictures

I know some people have asked for pictures of our misadventures. Taking a cue from the ever-thoughtful Dan (who is a reference librarian, after all), I give you...

**trumpets sound**

My Flickr Account!

So far it's just pictures of our Park Güell trip with the students, but it's a start. BTW, why is it called Flickr? Was the "e" eliminated to save time? Brllnt!

Barça Update: Now THAT was convincing!

I'm not going to lie. Barça was a big draw for me to move here. I don't know about Susie, but I was sold. I mean, it's Barça for crying out loud. So, I'm going to provide F.C. Barcelona commentary as the season progresses, because I can. Unfortunately, their season hasn't exactly been the stuff of legend thus far - two nil-nil draws and a win off of a set piece & a penalty. Not even a goal from open play yet this season. The only highlight has been the Italian bar we've been watching the games at (more on that another time). Until last night.

Last night was the Champions League opener, and Barça decided to show up. Too bad for Lyon. After Barça went up 1-0 on a Lyon own-goal (read: colossal screw up), they tightened the screws and just straight up shelled the Lyon keeper until the final whistle. Final score 3-0. I don't even think Lyon recorded a shot on goal, so it was sporting of Barcelona to let them score, even if it was in the wrong net.

**Quick digression those who don't know - to qualify for the Champions League, you have to finish in the upper portion of your domestic league. Hence the Champions. Barça finished first second last year. 32 teams get sorted into random groups of four who play each other home and home. Hence the League. The best two from each group advance to a playoff tournament with the remaining teams until one team is the champion of Europe and, by popular acclaim, the world. End digression**

The bar was going nuts. It was so packed that I didn't get my salame pizza until the 80th minute, when I ordered it before half time. That's bad, because it's the best pizza ever. Period. Susie didn't get her slightly less delicious quatro queso pizza until the final whistle. This meant we had to stay and watch more futbol. Yeah, I know. Rough life.

So, in conclusion:

Pizza + Beer + Solid Barça performance = Good way to spend a Wednesday night.

Group E Standings
Barcelona / 3 Points / +3
Rangers / 3 Points / +2
Stuttgart/ 0 Points / -2
Lyon / 0 Points / -3

13 days later...

Well, we´ve arrived safe and sound. Things in the beginning we rough. It was VERY warm when we arrived and we had to wait 90 minutes for the person who had the keys to come to the apartment to let us in. But once we were in the apartment we were quite content. We had rented a piso (apartment) for 2 weeks from a woman who was travelling to the US. It was a great set up because it was furnished, had sheets and towels, all the appliances, and was in a great location. Basically, it felt like a home. Once we arrived we took care of the necessities (showering, finding food, getting cell phones, etc.) and then began the apartment search. We decided that we wanted to stay in the same area (the Gràcia neighborhood), and eventually we found a piso about 5 blocks from where we had been staying. We moved in this weekend and are qorking to make it feel like home.

I began work last week, and most of the work consisted of getting things ready for the students´arrival. Thet students arrive this week and then we have orientation. I am told orientation is busy, but is the most stressful time, so I´m glad to be getting the stress out early.

Overall, life in Spain is good. Or as they say here, la vida es chula.