Two Brands of Football: Differing kinds of Arrogance

If you are an organization that is so powerful it can make governments impose the laws it wants to, how much chance do you think you have forcing them to implement a rule you want, no matter how trivial?

FIFA has made sure you cannot drink any other beer than its sponsor's within the area around stadiums FIFA hosts games in. FIFA can ignore clear goals simply by stating "the referee didn't see it". And because it's their party, they can pretty much set aside any form of criticism. You don't insult the host after all.

I'm quite sure the NFL makes a lot of money, even though its appeal as a sport barely stretches past the North American coast (although as a novelty having a game or two in London or Berlin definitely sells tickets). They implement rules changes when it supports the good of the game. If this means slowing the game down, so be it. If this makes the game 'less human', so be it. I would definitely argue that NFL football is one of the most fair sports in the world. More fair at least than FIFA's brand of football.

Then again FIFA doesn't have the threat of work stoppages every ten years.

Best. Meme. Ever.

"You're holding it wrong."

So many uses for this... Apple, you made my day.

The Inevitable

Told you!

Half Assed: Sony's attempts for a comeback in the Console Wars

You have to feel a bit for Sony. Once they were the king of the video game console hill with their PlayStation 2. They had the best games, the best support, the most happy fans.

It's successor the PS3 doesn't fare as well, getting beat by an underpowered but accessible Wii, and an oft-broken, but ostensibly cool Xbox 360. Nintendo's flagship especially garnered so much success by having a key characteristic none of their rivals in the market have: motion control. Sony was left behind to eat the Wii's dust.

Sony sought to emulate Nintendo's success, so they introduced the Move, their own version of motion control. It looks slick, although you could look at it as just a fancy vibrator with a clown's nose (and if there's something I hate with a vengeance, it's clowns).

Microsoft one upped Sony in the motion control department with the Project formerly known as Natal, the Kinect. It's main selling point: no motion controller to hold. Instead the Kinect is just an infrared scanner that detects your body movement in the room. So you can wave, bend over, nod your head, and your on screen avatar will do the same. Well at least it's something different from the competition.

Sony's other big selling point now is 3D, with games looking all impressive and jumping right at you to grab you by the throat. This is all fine and dandy, except for the fact that you need a 2 grand+ 3D television and a 150 dollar pair of 3D glasses (which I can hardly balance on top of my own glasses, and will tire my eyes out after about an hour).

Nintendo then announced their own 3D proposition, the 3DS. It's main selling point, it has 3D visuals WITHOUT the need of glasses. Frankly it looks damn impressive, and was sure to give some Sony executives a stroke.

So all in all the Sony PS3 has all the same features that its competitors have, but just a little less impressive, a little less innovative, a little more awkward.

Thank god it has Blu-ray support.

How Good Is Good Enough

It is in the nature of man to expect the best, and to not want to deal with mediocrity or worse. Reality is that mediocrity is the average and the median. Reality is that you are not getting the guru, the expert, the savior of your project. If you're lucky you get someone in your team you can live with and doesn't muck about too much.

Art is Confidence

The great works of art we are all in agreement with. The Mona Lisa, the Nachtwacht, Sistine Chapel. However whatever gets called art, and whatever's called a doodle, is a matter of serious discussion. A drawing my little sister makes is not considered art, until she either gets really, really famous, or until she exhibits it and tells all the critics that it is indeed art.

I've seen works of modern art that I could still conceivably make. And my skills as an artist are about as good as my basketball game... way short. However artists have to grow an ability to tell the world that their work is worth it. An artist needs confidence to convince the literati that his work has some thought behind it... even though it's just five paint strokes in three different colours.