an unappreciated gem …

i bought a game a while ago, coupla years ago in fact – viewtiful joe.

i got stuck in the first stage and just gave up on it.  it was just some 2d beat em up, and i hadn`t enjoyed what i had played that much, so it was easy to give up on it.

but recently the girlfriend was playing “okami”, a beautiful fun game from the same company.  and i figured that maybe there was more than meets the eye to viewtiful joe.

and there is.  slowly the color and personality of the game start to charm you … and then it hit me.  its a puzzle game.  what i thought was a 2d beat em up is actually a puzzle game.  your time altering powers are used to change the environment, beat bosses and generally kick arse.  once i used time altering to progress past an obstacle, i was hooked.  the game just charmed me and became hard to put down.

ugh, got lost. wasn`t fun

had a day off yesterday, so i went cycling – there is a new route i have been wanting to take for a while …

the day started well, great weather, beautiful countryside etc etc, but then i took a wrong turn and had no idea where i was.

even the gps maps on my phone didn`t help … the scaling of the maps and the load times annoyed the crap out of me.  so i just kept going till i saw some signs leading back to where i live.

so what should have been a fun day out turned into this long strange trudge

it felt like a wasted day … boo.

“only one side came to play football”

tis a phrase i saw a lot following the recent barcelona v chelsea tie.

what a loaded statement, there is so much said unsaid in that one little phrase …

sides should play to win

teams should attack

if you are scared of losing, then you are a coward

on the field we are all equal, and should play the game as it was intended and let the chips fall where they may

there is a higher good (the good of the game) that should take precedence over any teams own interests

you could go on and on …

but, i can`t accept these memes.  who gets to decide what is “football”?  nobody owns it.  so nobody can dictate what is good football and what isn`t.

should smaller teams ignore results and use tactics that are “cooler” but leave them open to embarressing scorelines?  no-one was praising sporting lisbon for not parking the bus when they were getting demolished.

tis interesting to see big fish in little ponds become big fish in really big ponds, with even bigger fish.  chelsea is a big fish, but barca are bigger fish.  if chelsea had taken on barcelona with an attacking mindset, they could have been decimated.  they now have a chance to win the tie.   this is a discussion we will see in an aussie context soon enough.

don`t know if we will see another aussie side get smacked 5 – 0 in the acl anytime soon.  nobody wants to be on the receiving end of that.  be interesting to see what exposure to bigger clubs does to the “have a go / go get em” aussie mentality.

but on the other hand, a lot of people didn`t like the defensive game that AU used so effectively last year – at least, they didn`t like it when it was used in the a-league.

professional football is not football

or at least, it is not everything.  it is the tip of a very very big pyramid.  the vast majority of soccer players in the world play for nothing but the love of the game.  i think its easy to forget that.

with that in mind, i did some stat hunting.

some abs numbers from 2005 showed soccer with about 400,000 participants.  afl had about 300,000, cricket was also around the 400,000 mark. netball is also around the 300,000 participant mark.

be interesting to see what effect the world cup and a-league have had on those numbers.

hmmm, fifa reckons there are another 500,000 unregistered players in oz.

its easy to get caught up in trophies and stars and building your top league and cash …but, its also about us.

i hope the powers that be in the FFA are thinking about how they can serve existing constituents better and how they can lower the barriers so that those who would like to join the party can.

we matter.

rakuten!

it rocks.  its this conflagration of internet shops here in japan.  the last set of videogames i ordered.  rakuten.  my soccerball.  parmesan cheese.  prosciutto ham.  all rakuten.

and my latest great pickup?  brazillian coffee.  used google to find out what are some common blends that people drink in brazil, then went to rakuten and found a shop selling it.

no more of this “brazillian blend” X for me, tis actual brazillian coffee now!

its very nice.

justin tv

started toying with justin tv …

people stream what they want, until the lawful copyright owners come along and tell them to take it down?  something like that maybe …

but it means i can see who is streaming footy at any time of the day and watch something.  argentinian football.  mexico.  brazil.  sometimes even japan.  historical matches.

and the same goes for any number of things.

but unlike les murray – who wants to watch the best football he can (whether he has any connection to the teams or not), i feel a bit strange watching teams i know nothing about.  a bit like going to someone else`s family reunion i imagine.

a new hope

i was quite happy with last season in the a-league … there was a lot to like, and i think there is a lot to look forward to in the future.

wot i liked.

queensland roar played some lovely football.  i really enjoyed some of their passing and movement.  youngsters who take opponents on with skill and speed.  wise old heads.

the diversity of tactics in the league.  roar`s use of a front 3.  vic`s narrow play.  Au`s counter-attacking.  ccm`s directness.

that team goal that perth glory pulled off.

things that give me hope for the future

we are sports mad.

aussie success in other sports means that we can genuinely believe in becoming a world heavyweight.

forget the aussie olympic obsession, soccer gives us a chance to take on the world (Yay aussie sense of insecurity and need to prove ourselves through sport).

so nay to the naysayers.  dunno bout you, but i am gonna enjoy the party.

its all in your head … always

watching “neon genesis evangelion” – one of the more famous big giant robot animes from japan, i was provoked into deep and groundbreaking new thoughts.

spoilers follow

the first 25 episodes deal with the trials and tribulations of a self-conscious teen who must pilot a giant robot and kill giant aliens.

the last episode sees him in a happy school setting.

and i thought to myself … “hmmm, this last episode, methinks this episode is his fantasy.  tis all in his head”.

then i thought, “but wouldn`t it make more sense if the first 25 episodes were the fantasy?”.

and then the thought struck me … “what the hell does that even mean, all in his head”.  everything you feel and experience is done through the filter of your mind.  you can`t get away from you.  its all in your head.  always.  there is a world out there that we interact with, but there is also one that you build up in your head … same goes for all the people in your life.  you have an image of them in your head.  there is a realistic fantasy world full of imaginary people rambling around in your head.  and this imaginary world sometimes correlates to the real world.  sometimes not.  and you can`t get away from that.

back to the question – what does it mean, if everything, in fact, is in your head?  i think it means not corresponding to the reality that others can perceive (in their minds).  so when the world that you create in your mind does not match the world that others have created in their minds, then we say that “its all in your head”.  thats when youra gettin a bit crazy ….

are we doomed …

to gratuitous self – flagellation every time an aussie club gets outclassed?

god, one half of the classroom is picking its nose and going on about money and brazillians, while the other half are hitting themselves with birch branches … while farting.

sorry.  that makes no sense.  i should have wrote something like “if the australian football fandom was a classroom …”.

but then i decided it was more interesting as is.

yes, we need to improve.  but so do the others.  even the heavyweights of the game.  in a c0nstantly evolving environment (such as world soccer), everyone needs to improve.  cos if you aren`t moving forward fast enough, your`e falling back.

just, put down the birch branches.

and stop farting.

change the goal posts …

games create a fantasy world / environment.  but what are we imagining.  there are too many space marines.  too many roided up heroes saving the world, one murder at a time.

been happily playing rhythm tengoku, a rhythm game on GBA.  its a bunch of minigames.  quite random and cute.  usually the gameplay is pressing one button.  following audio cues.  most people who play cannot stop themselves from bopping along to the music.  i was getting into one stage where you tap dance to ska music with monkeys.  let me just repeat that.

TAP DANCING TO SKA MUSIC WITH MONKEYS.

so many games seem so pale and hollow in comparison.  not enough tap dancing.  not enough ska music.  not enough monkeys.

and the only thing on the screen that was brown was the monkeys.  everything else was bright and colorful.

this simple, cute, colorful game has given me as much joy as any game i have played in the last year …