My New Hero is...

...Jens Lehmann, who saved twice in Germany's 4-2 penalty shootout victory over Argentina. The runner up is Argentina manager Pekerman, who made some crap substitutions to turn the Argies into a defence-minded team, then after losing the match, promptly quit. Thanks, Jose.

World Cup Fever

We're in the thick of the World Cup now. If you don't know that, I don't know why I know you. It's a thrilling, heartbreaking (Germany is still in it, so not for me yet), maddening, amazing tournament. But it's also a very long and tiring tournament. Here on North America's west coast, the early games are really early, though now that we're moving into the knockout stages that will be alleviated somewhat. To make it all the way through the tournament requires care, pacing, a good level of fitness and commitment to the cause. And I'm only talking about the fans. Rehydration is crucial. And to avoid burnout, I recommend diversions. Though being football addicted, it's hard to have non-World Cup related diversions. But diversions we must have, so as a service I offer you this...

The absolute worst hair I have seen in the tournament:

This guy is Loco. No, I'm not mocking him. Well I suppose I am but his nickname is actually Loco. If anyone has a worse haircut from this World Cup (Ronaldo's catastrophe was so 2002) that I should know about, let's have it. But Frank Ribery doesn't count, as I don't quite understand what is going on there and feel kind of bad for the guy.

The Best News I've Heard All Week!

It involves science and two of my favourite things. A new study has suggested that drinking a lot of coffee can greatly reduce your risk of contracting alcohol-induced cirrhosis of the liver. Minimal amounts had some effect, but those who drank more than 4 cups of coffee a day (I often find myself among those ranks) were 80% less likely to suffer the disease. The study was of 125 000 people over 22 years, which seems pretty exhaustive to me. The findings are by no means conclusive, as no findings ever seem to be, but still, this seems pretty positive for those of us who like both booze and coffee, often in flavourful combinations. The study authors did go on to say that this doesn't mean that people should start drinking lots of coffee in order to counter the effects of drinking too much alcohol, but you can't believe everything you read, can you?

The Conspiracy Theorist

Oh crap! Does anyone need a few rolls of tinfoil?

The Devil's A Noisy Guy...

For those of you looking for some way to mark 06/06/06 (at 6:06pm to be precise), for those of you who are demonically possessed or minions of Satan, for those of you looking for primal scream therapy, for those of you who would like to make an awful lot of noise, for those of you who enjoy complaining to others to keep the noise down, for those of you looking to either lose your hearing or help others lose their hearing, for those of you who have nothing to do tomorrow afternoon, or those of you who simply like big noisy crowds of people, here's what you've been waiting for...

FestEVIL Vancouver.

If you're looking for me, I won't be there. It'll be too damned loud.

Snakes On A Real Plane

Okay, it was only one snake, and it was not Samuel L. Jackson (who has had it with the snakes) but there really was a snake on a plane. Here is the story.

Hairy Upper Lips Part 2

As I wrote earlier, it was Moustache May at work. It was truly a celebration of the moustache in all its varied and splendourous manifestations. We had Handle Bars, Fu Manchus, Cops, Walruses, Zapatas, Pirates, Pencil Lines, and one guy was even brave (read: crazy) enough to sport the Hitler/Chaplin for a few days. Here's what I wore throughout the month. I like to call it The Devolution Of A Moustache (A Drama In 5 Parts):


And that was that. Those of you who have been avoiding me, even leaving town so as not to have to see my moustache, I'm clean shaven now. You can call again. Until next May...