Thierry Henry's handball

The Hand of Frog. Everybody knows about it, everybody has an opinion about it. Here's mine, albeit a bit late.



I was on holiday when I saw this on CNN. At first I just wanted to find out the score, as I knew France won 1-0 in Ireland. As I was watching the highlights, Ireland was 1-0 up and the game went into overtime. France got a freekick and scored. My first reaction: offside! Two french players were clearly offside. Then the slow-motion replay showed that Thierry Henry handled the ball before Gallas headed it into the net.

The same confusion can be seen and heard on the youtube clip I posted. The french commentator said it was a clear offside and then realised Henry handled the ball.


So What?
"So What?" indeed. For me the bigger issue is that because of that handball, France is going to the World Cup and not Ireland. The game was tight and at that moment both teams still had a chance (it wasn't as if the French were up 2-0 already).

Yeah, but players cheat all the time and refs always make mistakes
True. But players who cheat don't go become all honest straight after the game. Thierry Henry came clean straight after the game. Either you come clean directly to the ref or keep it for a couple of weeks before coming clean. And refs do make mistakes, that is part of the game. But as a ref, if you see six or seven players claim a handball, then something must have been wrong. The ref did consult his assistant but they both didn't see anything.

A replay?
No. A replay will set the wrong precedent. If this game is replayed, then slowly every other team will want a replay. I can imagine Chelsea asking for every European game to be replayed and any team who lost against Man Utd will do the same. No replay, the ref has blown the whistle and the result should stand.

FIFA is corrupt that's why there will be no replay.
FIFA is definitely corrupt, no doubting that. But if it was Robbie Keane who handled for the Irish winning game, FIFA would still do the same. Partly it's because its run by fools (Sepp Blatter was put in UEFA by a certain Adi Dassler, he worked in the watch industry without any football experience before that!) and partly it's because the rules say so.

So what should be done then?
I believe that Thierry Henry should be given a punishment and the best one is that he shouldn't be allowed to play in South Africe. Divers and aggresive tacklers do get punishment after the game, so Henry should get one too. Although I doubt that will happen because Henry is a big name and carries a lot of sponsorship too. And FIFA should try putting another linesman on the backline (which they are trying to do for the World Cup).


Didn't Roy Keane blame the Irish?
Yeah but he's a grumpy old man.

Some (random) thoughts

Just a couple of things I've learned/noted/need to jot down

• When renting a car in Germany, pay a bit extra to get a more powerful car. I rented a cheap Opel Corsa and had to pay the price on the Autobahn. The car is barely able to do 150 kph convincingly and then it was being overtaken by almost every other car on the Autobahn.
• Muse's The Resistance: OTT camp prog-rock/pop. Absolutely fabulous! We vs They lyrics? Check. Weird sounds? Check. Timbaland beats? Check. Three-part symphony? Check.
• Spotify is great! I still buy CDs but before I buy them I can listen to them. Before Spotify I would have definitely bought the Monsters Of Folk CD. Now having listened to it on Spotify I don't need to, because that album I'll probably listen to twice or three times. And having it on my iPhone? Genius!
• I'm still in withdrawal mode after finishing The Wire. Don't know what to watch now.

There are some other things on my mind. Hopefully I can put them on my blog when I have the willpower to do so.

Spotify on iPhone

I've been using Spotify premium for about 3 months now and I love it. I can listen to almost anything I want wherever I am as long as I have a computer near me. Now it will get even better as Spotify have announced that Apple have approved their iPhone app. With this app I can listen to anything on my iPhone via Wi-Fi and 3G and I can even save playlists to listen to them offline.

The premium subscription is probably the best thing in the world. For 10 Euros a month I can listen to almost anything. Therefore my CD buying habit is taking a BIG hit. Where before I used to buy a CD or two a week, now I'm on one CD per month. Everything else I just listen to on Spotify, especially as I did have a habit of buying CDs which I only have listened to less than three times.

The only problem is that for the moment the Spotify app is only available in the UK, France, Sweden, Spain, Norway and Finland. Hopefully it will be available where I live soon because I need it. Yes, I need it!

The Wire - the best TV show ever

I've been reading on the internet for a while about The Wire being the best television show ever. In March during a visit to the UK I decided to buy the first season DVD. I could have gone for the whole boxset for Season 1-5 as there are only 5 seasons, but wasn't sure if I will actually like it.

I put on the first episode and the show was a bit slow. There was a lot of swearing going-on but slowly it caught me. What caught me first was how in the show it wasn't simply good guy vs bad guy. No, in The Wire almost everybody and everything is gray. Sure there is the main cop McNulty but he's not the Horatio Caine straight ass cop who can solve everything and anything with just taking off some sunglasses. And in D'Angelo Barksdale (the first of many drug dealers in this series) it wasn't the usual drug dealer.

The story goes out nicely and before I knew it I was hooked. Each episode is about 55 minutes long and last weekend I managed to watch 10 episodes! I'm almost done with season 4 and I have season 5 ready. I should have bought the boxset.

The Wire is not about good vs bad, it's not a cop vs drugs series, it's more than that. It shows all the politicking - in the police, drugs, city hall, schools, even the corners. It shows characters that are supposed to be good but with big flaws and vice versa. It shows the intricacy of a big city (Baltimore) and how everyone is tangled up in it. And it's amazing the number of characters you have to keep up with as there are tons.

Whereas with Lost, Prison Break, Heroes and the likes I watched the next episode to know what is going on next or to understand what has happened before (until my interest runs out), with The Wire I watch the next episode knowing well what is going to happen but wanting to see how it is going to happen. And that makes for great viewing.

Definitely the best television show ever.

Paleo 2009: the other days, questions and conclusions

Day 5 I didn't go. It was cold and only Cold War Kids interested me but they were on late. Day 6, the last day, I didn't go either. Full of french artist. I watched the fireworks from a pretty place close to my place instead.

And that was the end of Paleo 2009.

I do have some questions about Paleo in general that will probably be unanswered forever.

• Why do people still eat Kebabs at Paleo? There are about 50 food stands, at least half of them serve delicious food, some of them quite cheap and yet I see people eating disgusting Kebabs. You eat a Kebab when you are in Geneva at 2 am because everything else is shut but you don't eat one at a Food Festival!
• Why do concertgoers barge in to get to the front way too late? You want to be up front, come earlier.
• And vice versa, if you don't want to be up front, then don't go there.
• Why do people use earbuds watching concerts? That never makes sense to me.
• A stand sells Red Bull. The same stand sells Vodka Orange. Yet they cannot sell me a Vodka Red Bull?
• Why can't concertgoers clap in time to the song that is being performed? The clapping always speeds up. It ruins the song.

My conclusions from Paleo 2009:

• Best concert: Kaiser Chiefs
• Surprise concert: Rodrigo Y Gabrielle
• Surprise he made it: Peter Doherty
• Best food above CHF 10: Brochette XXL
• Best food below CHF 10: Malakoff
• Worst bit: iPhone + Orange not working

See you next year!

Paleo 2009, Day 4

Friday's weather was menacing. It was cloudy and windy, and it rained a bit during the day. I wasn't sure how the weather was going to be, until at about 19.00 the sky cleared up. Somebody t Paleo must have a hotline with the weather Man.

Music:
Peter Doherty - he actually showed up, on time and did not look too wasted! He's not that bad, it was just him and his guitar, strumming and singing. However, the man needs a shower.

Charlie Winston - didn't see much of him, but he can do a mean beatbox, even better than Justin Timberlake.

Fat Boy Slim - he was DJing for 25,000 and did not disappoint. He didn't play much of his own songs, instead he was properly DJing (with videos and all) and he looks like a man who was enjoying himself immensely. He also looks like a man in the pub who has supported Brighton Hove & Albion all his life. His set was great. Mixing up White Stripes, Iggy Pop, Daft Punk, etc to his own stuff.

Naive New Beaters - they look cool, they sound cool. Might check them out more.

TV On The Radio - they are as eclectic as Radiohead in every sense.

Food:
I had to have some Curry Magret de Canard from Paprika. One of the best dishes at Paleo. Then had a raclette and finished it off with the greasiest spring roll ever. And I actually had some red wine this night (with beer and white wine as well).

Paleo 2009, Day 3

It was raining in the morning and in the afternoon there was a hailstorm, so I wasn't sure whether to wear wellies and a raincoat or not. Luckily around 19.00 the weather cleared up and it was fine.

Music:

Rodrigo y Gabrielle - I literally walked in on them playing at the Chapiteau and boy were they good. They were each playing a classical guitar and did wonders with them. At one point Rodrigo was doing proper heavy metal licks (Master of Puppets).

Amy McDonald - she did a great version of The Killer's Mr. Brightside and did Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark. Her own songs all sound the same.

Moby - I left before he started, I already saw him twice before. I did hear him at home and he sounded good.

Food:

Brochette XXL - lots of meat on a stick, yummy! After that a Hot Fondue, which is a hot dog bun but with fondue poured into it instead of a sausage. Mostly drank beer.

Paleo 2009, Day 2

The second day of Paleo. It rained a bit in the morning, so the air was less hot and dry and it made for wonderful weather conditions.

Music:
Franz Ferdinand - they were there in 2005 and I honestly think that they're 2005 performance was better. The new songs just doesn't sound as good on stage as their earlier stuff. Dunno why. I had a chuckle when I saw a sticker with the letters "E A D G" on Bob's bass (if you're a bass player you'll understand).

Thomas More Project - halfway through Franz Ferdinand I left to watch this local band. I knew the guy who used to manage them and they are pretty good. Great sounds accompanied by animations, apparently it's an audio-visual thing. Not sure if they own the copyright of the videos though.

The Prodigy - Keith Flint is not as mad as I thought he is. He also doesn't do a lot (apart from running around and waving his arms like he just don't care), just a yell here and there. Maxim did most of the talking/singing/screaming.

The Ting Tings - pretty good. Jules is a great musician and him hooking up with Karen White for her vocals and rudimentary guitar skills proved to be great. I like it how all of Karen's guitar swtches and buttons were taped up so that she didn't fiddle with it.

Food:
Malakoff, Calamari, Sambusa, Gauffre. And beer.

Paleo 2009, Day 1

Yesterday the Paleo Food (and music) Festival started. It was burning hot and the mood was festive. I was introducing Paleo to a friend, who despite living in the area for 11 years only made it there for the first time ever yesterday. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

Music:
The Gossip - Beth Ditto has amazing lungs and is an entertainer. The drummer looks like a hardcore lesbian, and the bass player (a session musician for the tour) must be the uncoolest person ever to perform on the Grande Scene. He dressed in normal jeans and a white t-shirt, with uncool shades.

Kaiser Chiefs - proper festival band. Nick Hodgson, the drummer, is indeed a frustrated frontman stuck behind the drums. And Ricky is good at getting people to do singalongs. It helps having songs like Ruby.

Placebo - just heard them in the background.

White Lies - they look like your average bored neighborhood teenagers but they have such a deep sound and sing songs about death. Pretty good.

Food & beverage:
Started off with some satays, then a sandwich au magret et foie gras, topped it off with spring rolls. Beer, rose, beer, rose, vodka orange, beer, beer, beer.

Einstein's Riddle

I found this riddle in my post today. It took me about 10 minutes plus an excel sheet to figure it out. Apparently Einstein himself made this riddle and he said that 98% of the world population would not be able to solve it. So this means that I'm part of the 2% that can. Are you?

Here's the riddle:
1. In a street there are five houses, painted in five different colours.
2. In each house lives a person of different nationality.
3. These five homeowners each drink a different beverage, smoke different brand of ciggies, and keep different pets.

Question: WHO OWNS THE FISH?

Hints:
1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede owns a dog.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is next to, and to the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall owns a bird.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes blends lives next to the one who owns a cat.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

You can always Google the answer...

Michael Jackson

I just have to, don't I?

Yesterday night Michael Jackson died in his home at the age of 50. Apparently he took some pain killers (Demerol) and then stopped breathing.

Having been in the music industry from the age of 6, Michael Jackson basically grew up in the limelight. He then defined pop music with Thriller in 1982. At the same time MTV was just born and MJ & MTV rode the wave of pop culture all the way to the beach, breaking any barriers in between.

But what impact does Michael Jackson have on pop culture? Well, here's a few: Thriller is probably the best pop record ever. Ever. Billie Jean is the perfect pop song. The music video for Thriller was way ahead of its time (both the use of video as a medium to project the song and the video itself). His dancing, although ripped off from James Brown, influenced many (his moonwalk on Motown's 25th is still and will always be a defining moment). Not to mention his publicity stunts (sleeping in an oxygen tank, buying the remnants of the Elephant Man).

Just look at Justin Timberlake, Pharell Williams, Usher, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, and the likes. They are all Michael Jackson wannabes. A guy who could dance like Jacko even became a (short-lived) star on Britain's Got Talent.

Before his self-aggrandising songs (started with We Are The World, continued with Man In The Mirror and hit its peak with The Earth Song), Michael sang about everything. Monsters, fighting, a kid who is not his son, never stopping, even about mama say mama sa mama cu sa (whatever that means). He even proclaimed that he is a lover and not a fighter. Which is totally in contrast with songs these days who are ore about fighting than loving.

During the end he just couldn't hold it anymore. Dwindling sales, rubbish music, mounting debts, Neverland, neverending court cases, etc will surely break a man down. He wanted to come back with a string of 50 concerts and he was preparing himself for it, with tickets being sold-out in matter of hours. Isn't it ironic that in the days of his preparation he then died? (note to Alanis Morissette: now that is ironic.)

The King of Pop is dead. Long live the King of Pop.

Amsterdam

Last weekend I was back in the city I was born, Amsterdam. I always love going back to Amsterdam. I feel home there. Usually I go there to visit friends and family, but this time I came for the Windmill Windup.

It's funny that the Windup took place on fields where I used to play football as a little boy. Although when I looked around at the different football clubs that were there I couldn't find my old club.

I got there Thursday night. Went into town and grabbed a bite to eat in Zeedijk. It was easiest as the other boys were lugging all their luggage with them and then had to go to the fields afterwards, whereas I have a bed there in Amsterdam.

Friday played games during the day. At night I went into town and ate at Febo. I munched down two kroketten and two burgers. I could've eaten more actually. Then a bite with some mates at Leidseplein. I always try to pass by Leidseplein when in Amsterdam, just because it is the place to be, to sit down for a beer, to soak up the atmosphere.

Saturday it was just at the fields, then a birthday bash. Sunday it was family time.

I didn't eat at Toetanchamon or had Haring. I didn't spend much time in the city center and I couldn't get an Ajax t-shirt at Schiphol. But I did have a great time. And I will always come back to Amsterdam. Because it feels like home there.