Bookworm

Finally, winter vacation. The result of the last tests were published, and thankfully I was approved without the final exams (one should get an average of 70 points in exams or 50 points after the final exam to be approved. But that one is more difficult than regular exams... and it has a weight equal to all the other exams together.).

So, it's time to decide what to do during winter vacation. Not much, since it's not that long and my research starts in the next semester. For now, just resuming the ordinary "go with friends to..." that I skipped for the last weeks because of all the exams, reports and presentations. Like going to the arcades and play futsal.

But I usually read at least one book during every summer or winter vacation. This time I still couldn't find one. I've been searching for Asimov's Foundation Series, but the complete collection is nowhere to be found. Other books that I'd like to read, like Rainbow Six, I can't find also... Well, I have one book in queue. A Japanese book that I was presented with (thanks again Kyoko!). I'll use the time to read it, but I'd need some other book as my Japanese reading is way too slow.

So, I'm open to reading suggestions...

Blue battle

So, another World Cup comes to an end. In the final match, a blue battle. Italy's "Azurra" against France's "Les Bleus".... with the deserved victory of the former. A good game I watched in a pub with some friends and former classmates (until I went to Japan). It's interesting to meet the group after (almost) everyone has graduated (well... I still haven't...) and check the path each one chose (or were chosen...) Master's course, job, unemployment... And each has different points of view now.

Back to the original subject, after some time Italy's got another title. And that was deserved. The players might not be so strong individually, but they showed a good performance as a team... plus some luck, but that's part of the equation anyway.

The bad highlight is due to Zidane... that lost his temper near the end of the game. Let's hope he doesn't become the martyr... in any meaning.

Well, the tourneament wasn't amazing. Good games, but not astonishing ones. Games usually decided by tactic rather than individual talent (but that surely showed up sometimes). Highlights to the return of the German patriotism, and the return of Italy to the top, after erasing the bad mark of being the only team that lost a World Cup final match in PKs...

Katamari Soul

One day, when I was in Japan, one guy of the same lab as me was showing a video he'd found on the internet. It was about a video-game. I couldn't find out the title at that time, but it surely was interesting. You are a tiny little... thing? Anyway, a tiny little thing that pushes around some kind of ball that is highly adhesive, capable of grabbing anything smaller than itself. That ball is called katamari (in Japanese it means something like lump, chunk or block). Grabbing objects, the ball gets bigger and can capture bigger objects.

Simple gameplay, a storyboard that is not amazing, but with some interesting lines. A game that can make one play for hours... and it's funny! That's "We ♥ Katamari" ("みんな大好き塊魂"). A completely nonsense game, one of the kind "turn your brain off and relax".

The most interesting thing so far? A stage where the katamari gets so big, that it grabs mountains, ground (yes... you've read that right), going through buildings, monuments (like the Eiffel Tower, White House and Osaka Castle), Godzilla, clouds, satellites and UFOs. Let's take over the world!!!

Well, I found that game this week at a game corner here and bought it because I remembered the video I saw in Japan. But the fun will have to wait until exams are over...

Munich: The Real Assassins

Recently, I watched the documentary "Munich: The Real Assassins" in Discovery Channel. I wanted to watch Spielberg's "Munich", but couldn't manage to do it. But the documentary was even better.

Shortly, it shows a "black op" of the Mossad (Israeli secret service) to get revenge on the ones who organized and planned the Olympics massacre of 1972, killing them in a way to intimidate other terrorists. How some operations were executed and how it turned into a new killing, having as targets "anyone who could be a threat to Israel" (more a less). Until they killed a wrong target... an innocent. And were caught.

Initial payback feeling turning into paranoic rage... doesn't it sound familiar with another conflict? Pakistan? Iraq?

And it shows that there's no "right side" or "wrong side" in conflicts like those...

It's surely fascinating. One I recommend.

Defeat... but not only that

So, Brazil was defeated by France... again. Well, the defeat was well-deserved. France surely played well (probably their best match in the competition so far) and Zidane was awesome. But a good part of the defeat was because of Brazil itself.

The apathy of the players was astonishing. Weak marking, no movimentation to pass the ball (note that when a Brazilian player had the ball, most times NO ONE would get close to him and allow a pass)... Those problems didn't happen only during the match against France. Probably, the only match when it didn't show up much was against Japan... even so, maybe because of the goal the Japanese did. Against Ghana it was more evident than ever. But at that time, Allowing Ghana to have the ball and working on counter-attacks unconsciously neutralized the oppponent main feature: fast counter-attacks. But France simply doesn't work the same way.

Even after the goal, the Brazilian team was like dead. Apathetic. Even the coach and the bench. Like if nothing's changed. Only Robinho seemed to be a little in the mood. That's what bothered me the most.

Why? Well, just look at other matches. Even when losing, even when there was little or no hope left, other teams would do their best until the very end, sometimes even turning the tables. Examples: Brazil vs. Japan. Japan had almost no hope of qualifying, but even so did probably one of their best matches in the World Cup, even scoring the first goal. Italy vs. Ukraine. Even losing by 3, Ukraine was trying hard until the end. England vs. Portugal. A good game until the PK's. Then Portugal goalkeeper turned into a hero, but England's defeat was just by an inch... fought to the very end. Germany vs. Argentina. Argentina's coach did a very good strategy, breaking Germany completely to the point they didn't have space to attack. And Argentina scored. Then Germany showed guts and managed to tie and keep the result until the PK's, where Argentina was defeated.

(One point of being back to Brazil: where else there could be an experimental class during the Germany vs. Argentina match and listen to the game on the radio that someone brought - or took at the lab - while doing the experiment? Even the teacher was listening...)

The problem wasn't about Brazil losing to France, but how it was... The first (and probably the only) shoot that could actually reach the goal was done only at around 40'... of the 2nd half!

I just hope that it has teached a lesson. Players' ability saved Brazil until the point that it really wasn't enough. Excellent players, but not behaving like a team... simply doesn't work. Individually, Brazilian players were better than the French, but almost any team (at least all that had a match against Brazil) was better as a team...

The defeat also has other good points. Braking the overconfidence and the exaggerated World Cup atmosphere (cheering isn't a bad thing in itself... but people sometimes simply overdo it... But I guess that only Brazilians and people who were here diring a World Cup will really understand the sentence...) and returning to our normal lives.