you want a cookie

one of my friends linked this on twitter, this is a laugh.

why contain yourself like any other book on the shelf?

seems like ive turned the tide on the sunburn. what hell that was.... ive now got it in me to write sentences that are longer than five words. thats a reassuring feeling. tomorrow im going to drive back to clemson and blast the new black keys, the into the wild soundtrack and sleigh bells. theres a certain peace to be had from driving on the open road like that. especially when i take the long way back. looking forward to it.

there'll also beat part 2 of the wc predictions, and some other stuff. one on baseball and one on another thing.

what weve all been waiting for... pt 1

johns WC picks....

ok so, im going to do groups first, then the knockout rounds. get ready, this is gonna be long.

Group A. Mexico/france/south africa/uruguay

Mexico and France advance, France finishing second. Im actually hesitant to say France makes it out. So many reasons. 1-they qualified based on a bad call on a handball. had that call not erroneously been made, france would not have made the trip. 2-Domenech isnt really a coach. he picks the squad based on player's astrological signs (fact) and he is already stepping down after this world cup. hes a lame duck, and he never adjusts right. 3-the sex scandal. frances best player, ribery, and a few others are under investigation for having sex with an underage prostitute, the same underage prostitute. They just havent looked good in the warm up matches either. Mexico has a load of a free flowing young players. I think theyre going to be a fun team to watch, and they are due for a deep run in the tournament. I think they advance easily. The kicker in this group is South Africa. If south africa uses its raucus fans to their advantage and pull off draws with mexico and france, they can make it out of the group. the problem is, next to new zealand they are the least talented team in the field. never underestimate the home turf though.

B. argentina/nigeria/s. korea/greece

Argentina and korea advance.

Two weeks ago i would have had nigeria over korea. but the loss of a few players through injury makes it tough for them. s. korea has a solid, disciplined team. they can go deep. argentina, on paper, has the best players at every position. their 3rd and 4th string forwards could start for any other team. their talent is that deep. whats holding them back? their coach, the legendary player maradona. if he tries to make adjustments, the argies will lose. if he lets them play as they want to, theyll make a run to the finals. we'll see what happens. greece play the most boring football on the planet. they backpass, they dont make runs. its a total snoozefest. be that as it may, they still won euro 2004 with that style 0f paly. i dont see anything miraculous like that happening this time though, but then again no one did in 2004.

C. england/us/algeria/slovenia

England/us advance.

England vs US is jsut a great matchup. I seriously think we can beat them. england's biggest strength is their media, which is basically the opinion of the english-speaking soccer world. they have portrayed their team as invincible. they certainly are not. england is shit at the WC, because much of the focus turns to the WAGS (the wives and girlfriends) of the players. the victoria beckham's (she is apparently still coming, though david isnt playing), colleen rooney, etc. they always fall short. and they are rife with injury problems. I think we beat them. What are our problems? I think we have too many players of equal skill at the same positions. when thats the case, it creates a dilemma for the coaches in finding out which are the preferred players. this is not what you want. you want options, yes, but you dont want 5 of the same jigsaw puzzle pieces when youre trying to put it together. you want your starting 11 to have lots of time playing together so they develop chemistry and the like. im not sure the US has that, not yet at least. algeria and slovenia shouldnt put up much of a fight at all. its a good group for us to advance out of.

D. germany/australia/serbia/ghana.

serbia/australia go through

This one is tough. germany hasnt been good of late. australia isnt too great. serbia has some good pieces and ghana has just lost their star, michael essien. Im going to go on a limb and say germany doesnt make it out. i just have that feeling. serbia can play smart. and ghana is athletic.

E. netherlands/denmark/cameroon/japan

netherlands/cameroon

Netherlands could have won every world cup since the 1960s. Netherlands, have never won a world cup. they play total football. essentially, every player is capable of playing any position. that allows you to easily attack and easily defend. its great to watch. unfortunately, the teams physical chemistry is hindered my their mental chemistry. they are notorious for bickering at each other. i guess its the dutch mentality. this factor has always held them back. theyll make it out fine though. cameroon is pretty solid. theyll make it out ok i think. denmark doesnt have much and neither does japan.

F. italy/paraguay/new zealand/slovakia.

italy/paraguay

i hate the slovaks so ill never give them anything. new zealand, are just bad. paraguay is mediocre. and italy is fielding an aged team. too aged, in my opinion. they left some key players at home that would have helped them out. this group is the weakest.

G. Brazil/Nkorea/ivory coast/portugal

Brazil/ivory coast

I love ivory coast. by far my favorite team to watch. they can take it to the finals i think, that is if drogba plays. drogba just broke his arm and we dont know what shape hes goign to be in. if he plays, theyre going to be great. without him, i dunno. brazil isnt playing free flowing stuff like they used to. they look like a real team now. i think this helps them. nkorea are hilarious. they tried to sneak their best player on to the team by hiding him on the roster as a goalkeeper. one problem, goalkeepers cant be substituted for outfield players, so this guy is goign to be stuck on the bench for the entire tournament. nice one. portugal. hmm. should be great. but they just arent. ivory coast vs portugal is going to be a thriller. everything rides on that game.

H. spain/switzerland/honduras/chile

Spain/chile.

Spain is great. should win the thing. just a great team to watch. they too though, havent looked strong in the tune ups. we'll see who shows up. chile arent a bad team. not great though. switzerland and honduras arent much.

pat and dan

the new black keys album is simply great. i say that having only heard the first two tracks. im writing this as i listen to the album. Its no secret that i loved their first albums, all of theirs but the danger mouse produced one in fact. there was something hidden about those first albums. they sounded like akron. and not many people know akron. i dont really know akron. my dad's side of the family does though so i guess i get it a little bit. now of course ive said many times that my cousin is friends with pat and dan, tehy grew up together, etc etc. we all know that by now. but that doesnt change anything. This is just a fun album. its an album that makes you want to drag your feet, but still carry your head up high. hope in the face of agony. the verse is good on this one too. pretty complex at times- her lashes flap and they smack men back/like springs they bounce off of her curls. i think thats kinda cool. and it fits with the guitar riff too. so you can imagine that being a pretty spooky guitar line. ill probably have more to write about when i finish the album. im seeing that the album lasts a good 54 minutes too. Oh the gall of these guys, no one can listen to records longer than 37 minutes anymore. Wrongo.

and im not dissing short albums, no way. tokyo police club's 'a lesson in crime' is the best 16:23 of the decade, hands down. what i am saying though, is that its a shame there arent many bands who can fill up 60 minutes with quality music. its always nice to find those albums.

the longest day

no, not june 6, 1944. june 7, 2010. this sunburn is driving me nuts. when writing this i feel like im on a deserted island or something. writing on some parchment paper: 'days turned into nights, nights into days, days into weeks, weeks into months.' ive been up since 5:55 this morning. i remember very little about the day. ive scared the heck out of hannah. she thinks ive gone insane. i can focus on something else for maybe 10 minutes tops before it hits me like a freight train. ive screamed bloody murder twice, that i know of. this has been worse than appendicitis and my shoulder. if its this bad tomorrow im going to the e.r. and making them give me 50 cc of morphine or something. listening to clemson. were doing everything in our power to throw away the game, as usual. yuck.

Posted these guys before. not these videos. theyre better.

sup

this is an old song. its two years old. that means its old. i remember the first time i heard this song. i danced. the first time i heard this song. its so catchy.

a laundry list of the weird dreams i had last night

1-i was taking a summer class that i didn't know i had signed up for. got a 0 in it.

2-i woke up in some house, with a family i did not know, turns out it was my family. that was odd.

Cant remember the rest.