headbutts, port-o-potties, and a good book

well i guess if you're going to get thrown out of the world cup final, it might as well be for head-butting someone in the sternum b/c they called your sister a 'prostitute'...zidane, i still got mad love for you, man - deserved winner of the "golden boot" award and still a gentleman in my mind.







as i watched the final at this bar on the beach, my mind raced through all the mileage, the laughs, the lonliness, the heat, the mercy from strangers, and the absolute stupidity i voluteered for. to see what i am talking about go to this site where a photographer took a series of pics during a moment when i was dared to jump over a shopping cart and then a couple of azzurri fans. the pile up in the end was celebratory, not retaliatory.

italy v. usa post game party in the streets of kaiserslaughtern...
http://galerie.partypix-saar.de/bilderscript/wnailer/nailer.php?page=4&did=170606-wmtorty



absurd
and yet another reason i will probably not go to japan, yet continue to love their sense of humor. this is easily the best practical joke i have ever seen:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/port-a-potty-prank.html



the fall of bagdhad

also, if you are interested in the iraqi situation before, during, and after the invasion, you may want to pick this book up by jon lee anderson ( new yorker writer, who wrote the conclusive biography on che guevara) - it is a fact-packed memoir of a journalist's ongoing experience in iraq before the invasion, during the war, and a bit into the occupation. most interesting is not only anderson's sensitive and mostly unbiased account of both sides, but the personalities that emerge from his relationships with ordinary iraqis trying to navigate life in a tyrannical dictatorship, invasion, and shaky future.