Pieces of a Man Think it. Do it. Be it. Embellish.

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The most recent of the 'World Cup Stories' series of Sunday night football documentaries was the best so far. 'Out of the darkness and into the light' was about Argentina's passage from military dictatorship to democracy between World Cup victories in 1978 and 1986.

The '78 tournament in Argentina was apparently a release for a nation brutalised by a despised military government. Even the detainees hanging blindfolded in a torture centre near the national stadium could hear the celebrations amidst their comrades' screams, and cheered the goals.

The players, too, hated the regime. Defender Alberto Tarantini, who'd had three of his friends 'disappeared' by the regime, described how he soaped his balls in the dressing room before shaking hands with the country's military dictator.

Winning the tournament, therefore, was monumental for both players and public, and perhaps this is why, for me, the most powerful moment of the documentary was the description of a photograph.

It was taken moments after the whistle in the 3-1 win against Holland in the final. Tarantini and the Argentine keeper, Ubaldo Fillol, are on their knees hugging each other, and also part of the 'embrace' is a man with no arms;

The armless fan is Victor Dell'Aquila, a double amputee since the age of 12 and a passionate Boca Juniors fan. Neither Fillol and Tarantini knew Victor was standing next to them when this photo was taken. It was only when they saw it in the newspapers that they realised its full emotion, particularly Fillol.

The photo is called either 'The Hug of Souls' or 'The Heart's Embrace' and obviously what you should now be doing is looking at it, but I've searched all over the web for it - even in Spanish at Google Argentina - to no avail. It's one to be owned and framed.

The amazing ticker tape of the '78 final in Buenos Aires was probably my earliest football memory, and what it also recalled about 70s football was that 'look' that faraway football matches used to have.

The colour balance used to be artificially bright on sports events happening far across the globe, as if the location was so hot that the images were being sizzled. There was also grainy quality about them as if not all the pixels had quite managed to make it back over the long distance to our screens. The combined effect was the feeling that the game was happening on another planet and it all added to the romantic, exotic feel of the occasion.

Of course, now the world's a much smaller place and we'll be watching the games on 42" screens with crystal clear images, simultaneously receiving text and video messages from people who are there. Progress can be a mixed blessing.

Labels: 2006

I've added a new item to the site at the bottom of the pages. It's part of a new Amnesty International campaign being promoted today in the Observer;



It shows a snippet of text from a censored website somewhere in the world which changes to another site at each refresh. Strangely, along with sites in Burma, Syria and China, one of the sites I've seen is the BBC site with an excerpt from the 5 day UK weather forecast. Maybe in North Korea they block meteorology websites and tell people that the West is suffering an ice age.

Also on the subject of eye-catching adverts, I like the recent web ads promoting council services. They sit on the page doing very little but nonetheless, perhaps by exploiting cognitive dissonance, they still entice you in just to find out what they're about.

For example, once you hover over (the original of) this picture, the cursor becomes hedge clippers and you can start to give it a trim. Curiosity keeps you trimming until the message of the ad is revealed (something about removal of garden waste, rather anticlimactically).

I'm impressed - since I work for much of the time in a web environment I have a very high degree of banner blindness, so anything that makes me look, interact and then write about it must be doing something right.

Labels: 2006

We're getting much amusement from the mere title of Hollywood's latest trashy summer offering - Snakes on a Plane. What a brilliant concept! Samuel Jackson, who's starring in it, also realised this right from the start;

At one point, the film's working title was altered to 'Pacific Air Flight 121'. A perturbed Samuel L. Jackson told an interviewer, "We're totally changing that back. That's the only reason I took the job: I read the title." In another interview Jackson claimed that once he learned about the movie title being changed he said: "What are you doing here? It's not Gone with the Wind. It's not On the Waterfront. It's Snakes on a Plane!" The film was soon reverted to the working title of 'Snakes on a Plane'.

In our house, snakes are right up there with rats and wolves as emblems of excitement, so we've immediately taken to using the phrase around the house anytime sudden exclamation is required. Toast burning? Snakes on a plane! Cherry cakes in the fridge? Snakes on a plane!

I was therefore intrigued to read that others are as thrilled we are, and that the phrase is entering the language from other directions, too. Check out other hilarious definitions of 'Snakes on a Plane' at Urban Dictionary.

Labels: 2006

Carlos Edwards has started a new World Cup column for the Guardian;

The mood in Trinidad & Tobago right now is buzzing: everywhere you go there's a mixture of excitement, pride and anticipation, especially now that our first ever World Cup match is just 17 days away. More...

Labels: 2006

First time I've seen this - disenfranchised from the Independent's New York flights competition due to lack of mobile;

Labels: 2006

Nothing for ages, then two come along at once - there's an interesting looking film showing at the Cornerhouse this weekend called Football as Never Before:

"Old Trafford, 12/9/70, as a middling Manchester United beat Coventry, eight 16mm cameras were trained by a German experimental filmmaker on United's number 11: the legendary George Best. Shot, edited and framed so that hardly any other players are visible, Best's beauty on the pitch is captured forever. In the year of his death, surely there can be no better tribute."

However, the current plan for this weekend - alongside Ice Age 2 later today - is to see if Dad wants to go along to Printworks tonight to check out the new film about the rise of New York Cosmos, Once in a Lifetime. Give me 1970s New York over 1960s Manchester anytime, George Best's brilliance notwithstanding.

And the two degrees of Kevin Bacon? According to today's Guardian, Pele was actually approached by United around that time;

"Pele belatedly revealed that he turned down an offer to join the club in the year of their first European Cup success. The most famous sporting icon on the planet claimed he was given the chance to team up with George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton in what would have been the most formidable attacking line-up of any squad in history." More...

Labels: 2006

... in the dispute between universities and their academic staff over pay. Here's an excerpt from the latest email from the HR director;

Dear Colleague,

I wrote to you on Monday of this week to advise you that the University was prepared to respond to the withholding of marks and the Assessment Board boycott, by adjusting salaries, if this action proved to be a detriment to students.

Although the action has caused minimal detriment so far, it is clear that a continuation throughout June is likely to have a significant impact on students.

The University is committed to protecting its students and as such, we will assess the degree of impact at the end of June.

If there is evidence of a detriment to students, there will be a deduction of 15% from salaries for all staff participating in the action back-dated to 1 June 2006. This figure is based on the average time allocated for marking and Assessment Boards in academic work planning.

The first deduction will take effect in the July salary and will continue until the dispute is resolved or until staff resume handing in marks and attending Assessment Boards.

To establish who is participating in the action, academic staff will be asked to declare that they are not participating in the action. (Those who are participating in the action need not respond.)

Considering the strides we have made in developing partnership working over recent years, it saddens me that the University has been put in this position.

Labels: 2006

Video from US Federal Aviation Authority radar tracking of FedEx planes trying to land at Memphis airport during a thunderstorm.

Labels: 2006