You may call me Alcisco

Some of the greatest names in the sporting world have come courtesy of Brazil. Socrates, Bebeto, Romario, Juninho, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Fred. It's genius. It's science. It's pure brilliance.

Thanks to one intrepid fellow, you can have your own. You may call me Alcisco. Or Cesar Artheto Santos. Or Cesildo. Or Alcinhosa Pau.

Back to "normal"

After a group phase of dramatic highs and lows, the round of 16 at the World Cup served up some stinkers. I'm so glad I chose to sleep rather than watch the epic Switzerland-Ukraine clash that went 0-0 and had to be settled on PKs. I'd like to think that the games were close, ultra-competitive affairs but it seemed most of the teams were playing not to lose. The Brazil-Ghana matchup offered the most attacking thanks to Ghana, ironically enough, while Brazil was content to counter. Now all the world superpowers (save for Ukraine) head to the quarters: Germany-Argentina, England-Portugal, Italy-Ukraine and Brazil-France (way to choke again, Spain...). Germany's gotten better as the tournament has progressed but I still like Argentina, Italy and Brazil with the Argentines to hoist the cup.

The completion of the round of 16 also brings a break in the action. After nearly three weeks of daily action, I've got a few days until the tournament resumes, giving me time to do more productive things than obsess over the World Cup.

One more thing: Pico and Cali go to a Toga party that has Flava in Rio, where Pico and Cali get naked.

Japanese TV is not sadistic

The best way to describe this is Gyrating man in leather hotpants to the rescue! It is what it is.

Only in the PI

On my way to Greenhills for a Saturday of studying, I saw the streets were lined with people armed to the teeth with water balloons, super soakers, buckets, ladles and anything you can imagine that can launch water at another being. Today was San Juan Day, in which the city of San Juan celebrates by getting wet. One way or another, the water mob's gonna get you. If you're walking down the street, you're gonna get wet. If you're riding a tricycle, you're gonna get wet. If you're in the back of a jeepney, you're gonna get wet. If you're in a car, you're not gonna get wet provided you locked your doors. That's right, the mob will just gonna open the door and soak someone if it's unlocked. Only in the Philippines. This would never happen in America. That's a lawsuit/beatdown just waiting to happen.

my favorite psycho

Tom Cruise's happiness is borderline insanity. And always good for a laugh. I've noticed it's rubbed off on Katie Holmes too. Their mouths are almost identical.




"Another direct hit for the Cruise Missile..."

Auf wiedersehen

They finally scored a goal, a very nice goal for that matter, and Italy even won just in case the Americans managed to do the same. But they didn't. I'm not gonna gripe about the bad call that gave Ghana a penalty kick right before halftime and a subsequent 2-1 lead simply because the way the USA played wasn't very deserving of a win today.

For all the talk about how far the US had come entering the tournament, Germany 2006 showed how far behind it is from the competition, namely in the scoring department. It's an exercise in frustration to watch the Yanks push forward, send the ball to the wings and lob passes to the center in hopes of connecting for a header. Throughout the tournament, they never looked like a threat to score a goal outside of set pieces. And until they figure out how to finish, they'll never be a threat in the World Cup.

I'm gonna be surly for a while.

A "celebration of cholesterol"

I could see this being big in the Philippines

...I just popped some Lescol because I think my cholesterol went up by just looking at it. Seriously though, what's keeping McDo from unleashing this monstrosity on the unsuspecting PI? People here already gobble up anything and everything remotely bad for your cardiovascular system. Might as well do it in style! And with BACON!

10 people in every college dorm

National Lampoon strikes back with 10 people in every college dorm
I lived in the dorm for two years at MSU so the odds must be good I had all 10...

1. The chick who gets pregnant and drops out - check
2. The pothead - check, this is pretty much standard
3. The floor slut - if there was one, I didn't meet her
4. The one guy the floor slut won't sleep with - see #3...
5. The R.A. - see #2
6. The guy who never sleeps, ever - nope
7. The guy who is gay and doesn't know it - does my buddy from high school who lived in the dorm
across the street count? I think it does!
8. The guy with a shitload of piercings - nada
9. The guy with mouth herpes - hmmm, none that i spotted
10. The guy who lives for football but can't play because of a knee injury - haha i had three

6/10 (or 8/10) = my dorms sucked :(

A draw...

The US isn’t out of the World Cup just yet, not after a 1-1 draw with Italy. I can’t recall being so nervous before a game that I was watching (rather than competing in) since I wasn’t sure how the Americans would come out. Would they respond to Monday’s embarrassment with an inspired effort, or would they cement themselves as the laughingstock of the soccer world? Thankfully the US showed a sense of urgency and the balls to attack that was sorely lacking against the Czech Republic. And the Americans didn’t quit attacking either, not after falling behind at the 22^nd minute on a nice set piece by the Italians or when two of their players were red carded. Thankfully their hard work didn’t go unrewarded as one of Italy’s defenders scored an own goal, tying the game.

Despite not scoring a goal of their own yet, the US finds itself in a position where it can advance to the knockout phase. All they need to do is defeat upstart Ghana and hope Italy defeats the Czechs on Thursday. I can only hope.

Japanese TV is still sadistic

Exhibit 3: Don't laugh while the guy tries to speak English, or else...

I feel kinda bad laughing, because I probably sound like that when trying to speak tagalog. But if I knew the same thing would happen, I might be fluent by now...

100 films

There are 100 film titles in this picture. Can you name them all? I did a similar one with 75 bands a few months ago. I don't think I'll have the same success here.

Japanese TV is sadistic

Exhibit 2: Wake-up pranks

It's no "Silent Library," but with a gazillion japanese tv clips on YouTube just waiting to be watched, I'm sure I'll find one to rival it. Eventually.

I'll go to a World Cup someday

You know, to watch soccer...





:(

A flop...

So I caught the USA-Czech game live tonight and came away feeling Germany 2006 could be France 1998 all over again. I watched tiny Trinidad & Tobago defy the odds by playing their hearts out against Sweden to score a draw and earn a valuable point. I watched a desperate Australia throw caution to the wind and score three goals in the final 8 minutes to defeat Japan. The US has as much to prove as those two nations, but for all the talk about how experienced the USA was and how they’ve got a swagger about them, the Americans came out conservative, tentative and uninspired. The Czechs neutralized all of the US’ weapons and scored some fantastic goals; it just looked too easy. It’ll be interesting to see the media tear them apart as fast as they hyped them up over the past week. More importantly, it’ll be interesting to see how the Americans respond because it won’t be any easier with Italy in the next game.

TV memories

You all know the Carlton Dance, but have you seen Will the Thrill and Boogaloo Shrimp?

Now everytime I hear "Apache," I think of that scene. Gold!!!!!!!!

The Beautiful Game (on tape delay)

My all-time, top 5 sporting events, in no particular order:

The Stanley Cup Playoffs
NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Final Four
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
Wimbledon
FIFA World Cup

…giving me a nice segue way to talk about my obsession for the next month. I won’t see every single World Cup match like I did in 2002, but I will be sure to watch what I can. The games are airing here on tape delay by about a day, but it’s better than nothing. However that means I’ll have to go on a media blackout around the time the US soccer team plays so I can watch their games without knowing the result, preserving the drama. Yes I’m a US Soccer fan and you may laugh at me now, but I always root for Americans in international competitions (unless they happen to be arrogant pricks like the basketball team; I get a strange satisfaction watching them fail to get gold in the Olympics...). I like the soccer team because they aren’t the dominant force that Americans tend to be in sports. Don’t let Nike’s ad campaign fool you, these underdogs are still earning their keep in the soccer world. They’ve made great strides since coming dead last in the 1998 World Cup and this year’s tournament is prime time to show how far they’ve come. And should they advance out of a group consisting of Italy, the Czech Republic and Ghana, I think it'll be a good result for them.

Recent history has shown that outside Europe, Brazil takes the trophy while on European soil a Euro team is crowned champion. Host nations do very well come World Cup time and Germany will go far for sure, but I doubt they’ll be celebrating in Berlin a month from now. Obviously I’d like the US to win it all but that’s pure fantasy, so I’ll go with Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands or Brazil, of course.

Night Rocker...LIVES

I found Night Rocker on iTunes of all places. I'm not about to drop $9.90 on this atrocity but lyrics like those found on the title track are making it hard to pass up...

I am the night rocker
I wanna rock you all night long
I am the night rocker
I wanna love you in a song
It’s a sweet lullaby
And I know you want to fly
So come, let’s fly away
I am the night rocker

28 Day Slater

If you watched Saved by the Bell, these may be of interest to you.

Episode 1 and Episode 2

my summer - May

Went fishing with my dad and brothers on Lake Michigan at dawn. I caught salmon, got super seasick and froze my nuts off. That's bonding.


All six Alcids in one place? Unpossible!!


Why not try remembering colors and sports in case numbers were too hard...

I can’t remember a colder month of May. By conventional standards, April is the month when you get rained on. This, however, doesn’t apply to Michigan and its ass-backwards weather. April was unusually hot enough for me to wear shorts and work on my tan, but May was cold, miserable and rainy. And since work required me to be outside for long periods of time, I took my down jacket out of hibernation. Down jacket. May. Unpossible.

Talking about the weather is what people talk about when they don’t really have anything to talk about, and since I already mentioned my Minneapolis trip, that pretty much sums up the month. It basically amounted to biding my time until I had to leave the country. I got some extremely rare yet quality family time in, but in terms of excitement I blew my load in the land of ten thousand lakes. :p

Ey yo

Props to the genius who put the workout tape together at my boxing gym. I’ve been there since February and yesterday was the first time I heard “Eye of the Tiger.” Better yet, it was followed by the Baywatch theme song. Hell yeah.