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Football, video games, math, food, other stuff.
Saturday, January 31, 2004
Testing out new format.
Football
Lovely day of football today. Most exciting 0-0 draw I've ever seen in the morning (Liverpool-Everton derby). Then a wacky game involving my preferred team, Manchester United. I prefer them, not directly because they are so good, but rather because they (usually) play the most beautiful football. Weird game today though. Debut of Saha, which I was mighty excited about. He played quite well, too. Got the first goal, and set up the second. Exciting times, having him and van Nistelrooy up front. The defense today was horrible today, unfortunately. In particular, Wes Brown. I suppose he's only been back a few days, but still. Some people on redCafe.net were complaining about Tim Howard's performance too. Now, I do think I'm biased towards Howard, as I thought he's done so well this season, but really, I don't think people can go around calling it a bad performance. He saved two 1-1 situations, then made an incredible save off an overhead kick. Neither of his two mistakes (bobbling the ball in midair, and missing a cross) led to a goal, so I don't see a problem.
Whether he can be faulted by Southampton's second call is difficult. I have a real hard time telling when a goalkeeper is at fault for that kind of thing. After all, the player was completely open, and had a marvelous shot. It seems like if the goalkeeper saves the shot, it was brilliant, and if it goes in, he's at fault; it seems a bit hard that there's no middle ground for goalkeeping. I suppose that's the nature of the game.
Video Games
What am I to do? Three superb games, each of which I'm trying to play. Ico, Suikoden III, and Disgaea.
Ico is one of the very few truly aesthetically pleasing video games. It is simply beautiful. As I talked about somewhere down below, it is hard to rate games in categories, simply because in different games different categories are more important to what the game is trying to accomplish. Graphics are usually not that important, but in Ico, they are key. The game is built around giving you a sense of being there. Let me give an example. After fighting through a narrow room, you come out into a courtyard. You walk down a slope until you are next a pool. Reflected there is an old windmill, slowly turning in the wind. Beside you, the princess walks off to look up at the walls of the castle from which you have just come. A dove flies down, shedding a feather as it lands beside you.
This was just one scene, but it was just one of many I've experienced while going through the game. It's quite impressive. Here's a picture. Hardly does it justice though.
Well, I'm tired of writing now, will write more on the other two later.
Football
Lovely day of football today. Most exciting 0-0 draw I've ever seen in the morning (Liverpool-Everton derby). Then a wacky game involving my preferred team, Manchester United. I prefer them, not directly because they are so good, but rather because they (usually) play the most beautiful football. Weird game today though. Debut of Saha, which I was mighty excited about. He played quite well, too. Got the first goal, and set up the second. Exciting times, having him and van Nistelrooy up front. The defense today was horrible today, unfortunately. In particular, Wes Brown. I suppose he's only been back a few days, but still. Some people on redCafe.net were complaining about Tim Howard's performance too. Now, I do think I'm biased towards Howard, as I thought he's done so well this season, but really, I don't think people can go around calling it a bad performance. He saved two 1-1 situations, then made an incredible save off an overhead kick. Neither of his two mistakes (bobbling the ball in midair, and missing a cross) led to a goal, so I don't see a problem.
Whether he can be faulted by Southampton's second call is difficult. I have a real hard time telling when a goalkeeper is at fault for that kind of thing. After all, the player was completely open, and had a marvelous shot. It seems like if the goalkeeper saves the shot, it was brilliant, and if it goes in, he's at fault; it seems a bit hard that there's no middle ground for goalkeeping. I suppose that's the nature of the game.
Video Games
What am I to do? Three superb games, each of which I'm trying to play. Ico, Suikoden III, and Disgaea.
Ico is one of the very few truly aesthetically pleasing video games. It is simply beautiful. As I talked about somewhere down below, it is hard to rate games in categories, simply because in different games different categories are more important to what the game is trying to accomplish. Graphics are usually not that important, but in Ico, they are key. The game is built around giving you a sense of being there. Let me give an example. After fighting through a narrow room, you come out into a courtyard. You walk down a slope until you are next a pool. Reflected there is an old windmill, slowly turning in the wind. Beside you, the princess walks off to look up at the walls of the castle from which you have just come. A dove flies down, shedding a feather as it lands beside you.
This was just one scene, but it was just one of many I've experienced while going through the game. It's quite impressive. Here's a picture. Hardly does it justice though.
Well, I'm tired of writing now, will write more on the other two later.
