WC 2010: England vs USA, Wrap-up

Hooray for 1-1 draws!

Like I mentioned before, I think a draw is “OK” for both sides in terms of qualifying for the next round. However, from a psychological standpoint I’m sure England is a little down as I’m sure they fully expected to carry 3 points from this match. The USA got what they hoped for, if not what they expected.

England has to be looking at the rest of this group and wondering if it will be as easy as they thought it would be.

USA has to look at the rest of the group and NOT have a letdown. On  paper, they should be favored against the other two, but as England just found out… games aren’t won on paper.

I was working during the game, so I don’t have a really in-depth analysis (maybe later after a second viewing), but overall I was pretty pleased with the performance. The central duo of Clark/Bradley effectively negated England’s vaunted duo of Lampard/Gerard (well, except for Gerard’s goal of course). We didn’t get beaten like a drum down the wings as I feared we would. Findley was a surprise starter and did OK, but I’d expect to see Buddle get the nod from here on.

And ultimately, it came down to the keepers, where the USA’s Tim Howard stood up like a champ and England’s Robert Green folded like a lawn chair.

Here’s what other’s are saying:

Reactions To US-England (wvhooligan.com)

Then there was Dempsey. The nifty little play on Gerrard to get the goal was something special. Sure the shot wasn’t the greatest and the keeper Robert Green should have had it but it was a goal that the U.S. would take any day of the week. Getting a goal so late in the first half (40th minute) really helped the U.S. going into the locker room at the half.

U.S. – England Post-match Quote Sheet (ussoccer.com)

Coach Bob Bradley On the early goal by England:
“I think that play started with a throw-in, the ball went back to Lampard and we stepped up to close him down. Next thing you know, there’s a big hole in our back line. When you use the word manage, the ability to control certain situations and not over-commit, I think England made us pay. But it forced us to get ourselves going into the game very quickly after that because there’s no more time to play your way in, you’re already down a goal.”

Midfielder Clint Dempsey On his game-tying goal:
“These balls move so much if you just hit them on goal you’ll have a chance. It’s one of those goals you always say ‘Why can’t I get one like that?’ and I’m happy to have scored in both World Cups I’ve participated in.”

U.S. Earns a 1-1 Draw Against England to Open Play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup (ussoccer.com)

Match report.

Soccer fans bring flags, fervor to Dupont Circle (WashingtonPost.com)

You MUST check out the photo gallery from Dupont Circle here.

By 2:30 p.m., when the United States kicked off against England in their first game of the World Cup, Dupont Circle was a sea of sweaty bodies, face paint, flags and plastic noisemakers tooting like hyperactive foghorns.

At World Cup, Team USA and England battle to tie (WashingtonPost.com)

Match report.

At World Cup, Team USA-England game hinges on goalkeepers Tim Howard, Robert Green (WashingtonPost.com)

A focus on the goalkeepers.

BP Spills Coffee

Before I get to a great Youtube skit about BP executives… If you haven’t already seen it, PLEASE go check out BPGlobalPR at Twitter.com. That dude is HILARIOUS. They are pretending to be real BP executives tweeting about all of their missteps.

Some of their goodies include:

MMS approved 13 new BP deepwater wells! We’ll be sending a really nice cocaine and whores gift basket. http://ow.ly/1Xn8Q

New estimates place oil leak at 40,000 barrels a day, but keep in mind that OH MY GOD WHAT’S THAT BEHIND YOU?! #timetorun

DO NOT ask your reps to support Clean Energy. Buying their votes back will take a lot of money away from the cleanup effort. #bpcares

Surprised ourselves by getting emotional on the coast today. Turns out the wind blew dispersant in our eyes. #BPrebrand

[Update: Due to some copyright notice or another the first link has expired]

OK, on to the youtubes (BP Spills Coffee sketch comedy via Dvorak)…

WC 2010: England vs USA, pre-game

Today is the big day. First game of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa for the Red, White & Blue.

Here’s the important stuff.

Time: 2:30pm EST (ABC pregame starts at 1:30pm)

Where: Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa

Where to Watch:

• English: ABC
• Spanish: Univision
• Portuguese: ESPN Deportes
• Online: Univisionfutbol.com (look for “En Vivo” to the upper right)
• Delay: ESPN Classic, 10 p.m.

Where to Watch Locally:

• World Cup viewing parties, DC United edition

What Others Are Saying:

• Studio90, Gameday Edition – USSoccer.com
• U.S. MNT Set to Kick Off 2010 FIFA World Cup Against England – USSoccer.com (game preview, lots of misc stats and notes)
• June 10, 2010: World Cup 2010: Into Africa – Two Teams, One Cup – John Oliver, The Daily Show
• United States has historic opportunity vs. England – Steven Goff, WashingonPost.com
• USA vs. England: A Look Ahead (and who should start for the USA?) – Ives Galarcep, SoccerByIves.net
• Relying on Heart, U.S. Takes Aim at England – Jeffrey Marcus, NYTimes.com

My Thoughts:

The match should be a good one. Both teams are very athletic and play with speed. Obviously England has a better pedigree, but it’s not like they don’t have their share of troubles in big competitions. An frankly, we have a couple players they don’t have an answer for in Donovan (played in England) and Dempsey (currently plays in England), and to a lesser extent guys like Altidore and Buddle (speed, size, strenth). If Donovan gets a little room to run at the British defense, it will mean success for the USA as none of their defenders can keep up and frankly British keepers are not very good.

On the flip side, the USA is going to have REAL problems containing England’s wingers. Likely to start is Lennon and Cole on the flanks. The only outside defender I have confidence in is Cherundolo, but that leaves the other side wiiiiiiidde open. If that flank keeps getting beat it means help has to come from the middle of the field which leaves more room for Rooney, Gerard, Lampard & co. Not good. The only way I see us getting out of that is by putting Beasley back in that position, and I’m not sure when’s the last time he played there.

This match is also very important for the whole group. Solvenia and Algeria, while maybe not powerhouses, can definitely wreak havoc by getting an ill-timed draw or win against either the USA or England. If this game ends in a draw, it’s probably “OK” for both teams. A win, is fantastic, but the loser will be hurting and then desparate for points against the other two teams in the group.

Back on track

A big “Hello” to both of my long-time loyal readers. It’s beena long time, but things are getting back on track and I’m hoping to be able to update this blog a lot more often now. What have I been doing the last few months? Well, working 24/7 basically. But now some of those projects are done, there are new ones starting up, and there’s lots of stuff going on in tech, sports, and overall just “stuff”.

So I’m getting prepped for some soccer World Cup action. A big review (with lots of pics) of my new HTC Evo 4G. Some site upgrades, as this design is a little dated and tired. And anything else I can think of. Check back soon, subscribe to the RSS feed, sit back relax…. and wait till i post again

My thoughts on the new Apple iPad

So today Apple launched their long expected/anticipated/wanted/drooled over tablet-like device.

[I have to say... gdgt.com's live coverage was the only live blogger that didn't time-out on me while I was watching. Gizmodo and Engagdet both went down, possibly because of the larger (?) viewership. Yay for gdgt.com!]

Apple iPad from Gizmodo. Not shown actual size...

Here are the crucial specs:

• 1/2inch thick
• 1.5lbs
• 9.7in screen (diagonal?)
• IPS based LED backlit screen
• 10 hours battery life
• 802.11 N wifi
• AT&T 3G
• 1Ghz Apple A4 processor
• 16-64GB flash storage
• iPhone OS

Click below to read more…

Continue reading →

Friday Movie News

Here’s a roundup of some some tidbits this week.

FIRST. Wanna read the original Avatar script? You know you do… PDF of it is available here from JoBlo.com via AICN.

Looks like Ivan Reitman is going to be doing Ghostbusters 3 afterall. And it sounds like most (if not all) of the cast will return.

With Sami Raimi & Co parting ways with Sony over, let’s call it…, creative differences with how Spider-Man 4 should be there’s a list of candidates to take over. The list includes James Cameron, but seriously I’m not holding my breath on that one. Just doesn’t seem like his type of movie.

Want to see some pics from the set of Piranha 3-D? Not for the faint of heart…. Click here.

A prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing… No, thanks. Not for me. But based on rewrite of a script by Ronald D. Moore (former BSG guy). Follow the link to SpoilerTV for more character details. Via AICN.

Pierre Morel (director of the FANTASTIC “Taken”, watch it if you haven’t already) is going to be doing a remake of Dune. He says he’s going to be very respectful of the original Frank Herbert novel.

Two reviews for the Book of Eli here and here.

See Chow Yun-Fat as Confucious in this trailer. I think there is very little I know about Confucious… A Dungeons & Dragons documentary? The Dungeon Masters sounds intriguing… Yuen Woo Ping’s True Legend looks epic…. Links via AICN.

Oh, and last but not least…

[cue music] The A-Team trailer!!!!!! [/end music]

Weekend Movie & TV News

A new KICK-ASS trailer, AICN’s mini-(p)review of Daybreakers, catch up on Lost seasons 1-5 in 8mins and 15secs (yeah, i see what you did there!), and a few other random bits of news.

KICK-ASS

First up, over at Yahoo! Movies is the new KICK-ASS trailer (via AICN). Similar to the first one (you’ll see some scenes repeated) but it seems to flesh out the story a little further. I did not read the comics/graphic novel series so I’m in the dark as to how this ends up. But the basic premise is some geeks/teens decide to become real costumed super-heroes. Looks like a fair bit of comedy as well as action involved and from what I’m reading seems to be pretty good. AICN says “KICK-ASS is honestly one of the most deliriously entertaining action films I’ve ever seen”. Click for an HD version.

Lost

For those of you who haven’t been watching Lost, but want to know what has been going on so you can see the last season can catch up on the first 5 seasons via the Youtubery below. Get Lost in 8:15 via Mahalo.

Daybreakers

AICN’s Capone has a mini (p)review of Daybreakers which opens this week(?) starring the likes of Ethan Hawke, William Dafoe, and Sam Neil. He seems pretty keen on the movie. While it’s not one I’ll be watching, since I’m the biggest chicken EVER, it sounds like an actually good movie with some good actors, a good plot, and a good story. Here’s the summary from Capone:

During the day, small pockets of free humans roam the earth essentially doing nothing more than finding new and better places to hide from the military, whose sole purpose in this time of diminishing natural resources (i.e., human blood) is to track down humans and turn them over to companies like the one owned by Hawke’s boss, played with eccentric menace by Sam Neill, to farm their blood for as long as they can be kept alive. Some less than scrupulous vamps have taken to feeding on each other, which leads to some truly nasty, primal consequences.

They manage to incorporate a good deal of traditional vampire lore in a story that stays far away from the Gothic, dreamy, romantic type storytelling that his poisoned the vampire well of late. I’m sorry, but I like my vampire with fangs, ripping throats, and transforming into giant bat-like creatures. And no f***ing sparkling.

Interesting, yah?

GI Joe 2?

AICN is also reporting (here & here) that there is going to be a GI Joe sequel… I know, I know. At first mention it sounds horrific. While GI Joe wasn’t the *worst* movie I’ve ever seen, it was far from worthy of a sequel. But apparently, it made enough money at the box office to warrant a little more. However, there is hope for this one. The writers are going to be Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who wrote Zombieland (by all accounts a good flick), and are currently writing it’s sequel AND the upcoming Deadpool movie. We shall see…

Avatar 2?

In other sequel stories, there will be an Avatar 2. I don’t know how they will resolve the story. The natives still have stuff the humans want. And I can only imagine the “corporation” is going to bring bigger, badder machines this time around… or will they bring more diplomats? Or will they just assume the humans don’t come back and continue the love story? Or maybe now they want the “tech” of the tree instead of the metal underneath it?

People of Wal-Mart Rap video

This has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year (yes, I know it’s only the 7th day of this year).

Lost on Hulu

Lost on Hulu

Missed out on Lost? Well, now you can catch up with all the Lost episodes seasons 1 through 5 over at Hulu. Normally they only make the last few episodes available, but I guess this is special since the upcoming season is their final one. If you haven’t already tried it, make sure to check out their Hulu Desktop application.

2010 TV Premiere Dates

AICN is at it again. Follow the link to see the upcoming premiere dates for various TV shows, sorted by date or by title.

A few notables for me:

• Big Bang Theory (CBS) Jan. 11
• Bones (Fox) Jan. 14
• Burn Notice (USA) Jan. 21
• Caprica (Syfy) Jan. 22
• Castle (ABC) Jan. 11
• Chuck (NBC) Jan. 10
• Community (NBC) Jan. 14
• Dollhouse (Fox) Jan. 8
• FlashForward (ABC) March 4
• Fringe (Fox) Jan. 11
• Glee (Fox) April 13
• Heroes (NBC) Jan. 4
• Human Target (Fox) Jan. 17
• It’s Me Or The Dog (AP) Jan. 2
• Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) Jan. 29
• Lost (ABC) Feb. 2
• Modern Family (ABC) Jan. 6
• The Office (NBC) Jan. 21
• Pacific (HBO) March 14
• Parks and Recreation (NBC) Jan. 14
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (CN) Jan. 1
• 30 Rock (NBC) Jan. 14
• Top Gear (BBCA) Jan. 25
• 24 (Fox) Jan. 17
• V (ABC) March 30

Bones, Castle, Glee, & Modern Family are all shows that the fam sits down to watch together. These are all well-made shows, interesting and entertaining. Modern Family is downright hysterical.

Dollhouse is showing it’s final few episodes since it’s already been canned by FOX. I don’t know if they are going to tie up all the loose ends or maybe leave some open if they move to another channel or do some straight to DVD work (ala Battlestar Galactica). The show was overall pretty decent, but it has had its ups & downs. Worth renting the seasons from Netflix if you’re boared, but definitely not a buy.

I’m really intrigued by Caprica. Set about 50 or so years (?) before the events in the Battlestar: Galactica series, it tells how the Cyclons came to exist. This is more in the vein of drama than it is any sort of action/adventure. There are some good actors but the story is a bit fuzzy and the movie/pilot idnd’t “wow” me. Having said that I’ll definitely check it out and see where it goes.

V. Hmmmm. The original 80′s mini-series is still watchable (yes, I own the DVDs) and kinda relevant. The update is… umm… “OK”. They’ve set the stage to potentially have some interesting plot developments and story twists. If they play it right this can be a REALLY good series. You’ve got elements of “who can I trust”, “big brother is watching”, “am I paranoid or are they REALLY following me”, plus the usual politicians out for their own, the media and the dummies who follow it. BUT. There were some spots in the 4 opening episodes that had some really shady dialogue and delivery. I know it’s not the actors because most of them have been in other projects that I’ve liked. So something is fishy with the direction and scripting. It looks like an expensive show to make, so if it doesn’t have real good ratings real early, I’d expect it to be canceled. Considering the promise it has, I hope it does well.