European Fields

The Landscape of Lower League Football

Beautiful photos by Hans van der Meer. The fourth one (Marsielle, France) made me think, "Wow, that's a gigantic penalty area."

[via Kottke]

Fiasco

Two excerpts from Thomas Ricks' Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, published in the Washington Post.

1) In Iraq, Military Forgot the Lessons of Vietnam

On May 16, 2003, L. Paul Bremer III, the chief of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-run occupation agency, had issued his first order, "De-Baathification of Iraq Society." The CIA station chief in Baghdad had argued vehemently against the radical move, contending that, "By nightfall, you'll have driven 30,000 to 50,000 Baathists underground. And in six months, you'll really regret this."

He was proved correct, as Bremer's order, along with a second that dissolved the Iraqi military and national police, created a new class of disenfranchised, threatened leaders.

2) It Looked Weird and Felt Wrong

Lt. Col. David Poirier, who commanded a military police battalion attached to the 4th Infantry Division and was based in Tikrit from June 2003 to March 2004, said the division's approach was indiscriminate. "With the brigade and battalion commanders, it became a philosophy: 'Round up all the military-age males, because we don't know who's good or bad.' " Col. Alan King, a civil affairs officer working at the Coalition Provisional Authority, had a similar impression of the 4th Infantry's approach. "Every male from 16 to 60" that the 4th Infantry could catch was detained, he said. "And when they got out, they were supporters of the insurgency."

[via dack]

Catcher in the Rye ll, This Time It's Impersonal!

Yes, there's really only one chick lit storyline (also in use for chick flicks), and I've always insisted there's only one reggae song. But there's room in the one-note boat for guy-lit too.

Here, then, is the summary of all guy-lit* novels:

I have a boring job, for which I am overeducated and underqualified, but I lack the ambition to commit to a serious career. (Usually I have family money.) I don't look too deeply into myself or anyone else — everyone else is boring or a phony anyway. I may be 30, but I act like I'm 15. I'm too clever for my own good. I live on puns and snide, sarcastic asides. I hang out with my equally disconnected friends in many of the city's bars. I drink a lot, take recreational drugs, don't care about much except being clever. I recently broke up with my girlfriend, and while I am eager to have sex, which I do often given the zillions of available women in New York, the sex is not especially fulfilling, and emotions rarely enter the picture. I am deeply shallow. And I know it.

Oh, and then something happens. I go on a journey, get inside the media machinery, sort-of fall for a new girl. Or 9/11 happens, but that doesn't really affect me much either. And though I might now mouth some bland platitudes about change, anyone can see that I'm still the same guy I was before. Only different. But not really.

(*High Fidelity, About a Boy, Bright Lights Big City, Douglas Coupland, ad nauseum)

August 15th: Fair and Balanced Day

Fox News is claiming that Al Franken's new book title, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" infringes on their trademarked tagline.

Hee hee! Silly Fox!

via just about everywhere

112 Gripes About the French

82. "The French soldiers were supposed to hate the Germans, but they didn't waste any time shacking up with German girls."

That is as deplorable as the same conduct on the part of Americans.

Book of GI Gripes is a Best Seller 59 Years On

In this black year for Franco-US relations, an American book originally called 112 Gripes About the French has become a surprise best-seller in France.

First published in 1944 for issue to American troops in France after D-Day, it tries to explain the cultural differences between the two countries to GIs appalled by hosts they considered dirty, dishonest and deviant.

The book consists of a list of complaints, each accompanied by a patient explanation of why the French are as they are and whether or not the complaint is valid.

The book is online and can be read here.

Exactitudes

Amazing photo collection of social dress codes. I especially love the differences between fans and supporters.

via harrumph!

Andrew owes me $5

I told you Ruth Stone would win the National Book Award for Poetry! A remarkable achievement for a 22 year old woman. But sorry, boys, she spoken for!

Quentin's

As Ella uncovers more and more of what has gone on at Quentins, she begins to question the wisdom of capturing it all in a documentary. Are there some stories that are too sacred to be told, some secrets that must be kept? By getting to know the people that pass through the doors of Quentins, Ella has finally gotten to know herself.

It's about people coming to terms with things

Oprah has retired her book club. Didn't it seem like every book was "about a young womens spiritual awawkening?"
Perhaps they used them all up.

Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick!

When my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encrypted in Moby Dick, I'll believe them. (Newsweek, Jun 9, 1997)

"I'm a great leader. You must obey me. Not only that, you must love me."

Presidents, Prostitutes and the Populace

The online companion to Richard Saul Wurman's book "Understanding". Demonstrates the power inherent in understanding and the notion that understanding is power. Well, I'll be damned.

via someone sent this, God only knows who.