Tag: Canada

  • World Cup Dispatch: Spain v Costa Rica, and Other News

    I don’t know a whole lot about either team here; Spain or Costa Rica. What I do know is that Costa Rica is a scrappy squad whose best showing was back in the 2014 Cup when they made it to the Quarter Finals and lost to the Netherlands on penalties. And then there is Spain, who won it all back in 2010. What I do know about Spain and football, comes from my uncle who lived most of his life in Madrid. What he told me is that Spain’s love of football cannot be described, it just is part of Spanish life – it is the culture. All that having been said, Spain should win this… And at the 11th minute, Spain just scored.

    As we know, I will not get up at 5am to watch the first match of the day, but I am a little surprised that Croatia didn’t beat Morocco; I will need to read up and see what happened there. I mean, Belgium is predicted to win this group, but if Canada can pull a draw (very unlikely) then this group could end up rather competitive and fun to watch.

    Lastly, is anyone else having issues with the FIFA app on their phone? It’s glitchy and slow to update on my end, and was curious to see if anyone else is having problems.

    And Spain just scored again…

    (And, thanks for reading all the way to the bottom of this post. If you could do me a favor, hit that like button over there. It will help me out, with rankings and stuff.)

  • ODDS and ENDS: Kids are Back, Doomsday DJ, and Protect Kids and Not Guns

    (Is that a flying pig in the sky?)

    I have started watching The Kids in the Hall’s new season in Amazon. As with all of these nostalgia reboots of stuff from the 80’s and 90’s, some fall rather flat, and leave you wondering why it needed to be rebooted in the first place. (Looking at you Fresh Prince.) First of all, I don’t think The Kids in the Hall are a reboot, as it feels like a solid continuation of the original show. Second, The Kids are just as biting and internal as they have ever been. Yes, they are older, but that alt/punk subversive vibe is still there. Their humor was never topical, and their best stuff always had to do with the relationship between characters.

    Which brings me to “Doomsday DJ” a darkly humorous bleak sketch with just Dave Foley and Melanie’s 1971 hit “Brand New Key.” Though the sketch, which is in three parts and the clip is only the first, takes place in a world where DNA bombs have fallen and destroyed just about everybody on the planet, it has an eerie present feeling to it. Was the sketch’s creation influenced by the Trump years and Covid isolation? Clearly, yes. But man, Foley’s expression of desperation and loss with his eyes becoming unfocused, only to snap back to reality to do his “job” on the radio. I think everyone can relate to a similar feeling during the lockdown, watching tv on the couch, and wondering, “Is this really how it will all end?” The Kids tapped into a zeitgeist in the culture that I don’t think anyone has been able to express correctly. I know I said above that they don’t do topical jokes, and I hold to that, because the joke here is the internal struggle of the character to continue in the face of ultimate doom. Amazingly, we all know what that feels like, and now we see you can make fun of it.

    Protect Kids and Not Guns.

    Protect Kids and Not Guns.

    Protect Kids and Not Guns.

    (Say, don’t forget to like this post, or share it, or leave a comment. I got bills to pay, you know.)