Heat Advisory

We are currently under an official heat advisory until tomorrow evening.  What does this mean?  It's bloody hot.  Too hot to go outside during the day, and too hot to get a comfortable night's sleep.  I've got both my portable AC units running in my bedroom.  It may get quite noisy, but it does make it a bit more comfortable.  Though I'm still sleeping on top of my duvet rather than underneath it.  There is not a single drop of rain in the forecast until I come back to the UK.  Perfect wildfire weather, and we've already started to be affected by wildfire smoke causing hazy skies.  The smoke is coming from wildfires in Canada and in the east of the state.  It's probably one of the reasons why Trump has increased tariffs on some Canadian goods.  Though at this point, everyone knows these tariffs are just stupid and arbitrary - and it's the consumer who suffers. 

Jimothy

Seattle has a famous (well, internet famous) raccoon now:

This weird-shaped raccoon (due to a spine abnormality) has been seen in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and has been named Jimothy.  Yep, now that the World Cup has finished this is the kind of content you can expect in my posts now.

Superbowl 60.5 As It Happened

World Cup final?  More like Superbowl 60.5.  I almost missed the game because the starting times for these World Cup matches have been all over the place, and I assumed it started at the same time as the England game yesterday.  Nope, that would be too easy.  And it meant I missed the American national anthem before the game.  Because obviously that has to be sung, even though the US is not in the final.  Because this is the Superbowl.  The winners are even getting Superbowl rings.  I wonder if they showed a shot of Trump saluting during the anthem - which is always insulting, because he is a draft dodger.  I'm looking forward to seeing if he is going to ruin the medal ceremony and celebration, just like in the Club World Cup.  

Obviously I'm supporting Spain.  I hate Argentinian players and Argentinian fans.  I respect their passion for their country and the game, but far too often they cross the line into something ugly.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Argentina are the masters of the dark arts.  You just need to see the way they niggled the England players and intimated the referee in the semi-final.  And they committed the cardinal sin of mixing politics (the Falkland Islands) with the beautiful game.         

It's halftime.  Got to say I'm not really watching the game much, it's not particularly exciting.  Seems like it's mostly Spain controlling possession, but no real clear cut chances.  Not unlike the England-Argentina game.  So I guess this suits Argentina for some last minute heroics.  I've already been distracted by YouTube, so I paused the game and now I'm about 30 minutes behind the real game time.  I'm turning off my phone because it will flash up the final score before I'm ready.  At least I can fast forward all the half-time nonsense.  Including the Superbowl-like half time show and Alexi Lalas' useless analysis.  He is up there with hydration breaks as one of the worst things about this World Cup.

This game needs a goal.  Or a red card.  Or something.  I mean we're 80+ minutes in and Argentina hasn't registered a shot on goal yet.  I think I've got more of a chance of getting a golden boot than Messi.  I hope this doesn't go to extra time.  I've got chores to be getting on with.  I'm sick of all this drone footage and ref cam - adds absolutely nothing to the coverage.  Other than a distracting drone shadow across the pitch.  It's kind of sad that the American audience has to be reminded that there is no golden goal.  And they keep on displaying this match momentum plot during every game, that has to be one of the most useless football stats I've ever seen.    

And so we go to extra time.   And Argentina down to 10 men.  Did you see the way all their players were surrounding the referee after the second yellow card.  That's the kind of thing I hate them for, and I thought it was the kind of crap that FIFA were trying to cut out of the game.  You somehow still feel that if they can hold on for penalties then they will win.  Do you reckon Trump is going to hang around for another 30+ minutes?  They haven't shown many shots of him during the game.  I have no doubt he has been "resting his eyes" during the game.

Into extra time.  It looked like Spain had a perfectly legit goal disallowed.  Just going to show more Argentine bias throughout these knockout stages.  This definitely feels like it's going to penalties.  Despite all of Spain's possession. Spain might have a worst record in penalties than even England.  They have to really push for a goal.  And it is perhaps their achilles heal that they don't have a decent reliable striker.

GOAL!  Thank god.  Finally Spain have broken the deadlock.  20 shots on goal versus 0, they deserved it.  Now Spain, don't do an England.  Don't sit back, don't become defensive.  They've controlled the ball, and that's what they need to keep on doing.  Now is the time for some tiki-taka football.  Is there one bit of Messi magic left?

Nope.  Congratulations Spain.  You were the most consistent team in the World Cup, certainly defensively, and probably deserved it.  Though I think we could have given you a good fight.  And look at the bad sportsmanship from the Argentinians after the final whistle.  Why am I not surprised.  Bad losers.  

It's going to be tough to come up with other things to blog about after this World Cup...

England ?-? France

It's the third place game.  Who cares.  It doesn't matter what the score was or how good a game it was - it has no consequences, and is even more meaningless than a friendly.  Which is why I didn't bother watching it.  The only reason we have the game is because it's another FIFA money grab.    

IMAX

I haven't been to the cinema for ages, but I am thinking I want to go see The Odyssey on the big screen.  And I mean the really big screen - I'm no expert on the various different film stocks, but I really want to see this film in 70mm IMAX for the ultimate viewing experience (it was filmed entirely in IMAX, and this is apparently the best way to see the film).  One problem with that, there is no such screen showing that format in the Seattle area.  There used to be a big IMAX screen at Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is, and where I've seen films before), but it got sold and is now closed indefinitely.  Which sucks.  There is a downtown cinema showing the film in 70mm, but not on a screen with the proper IMAX aspect ratio.  But then it dawned on me that it's not that long until I'm back in the UK.  So I could wait until I'm back, and go watch it at the BFI in London (just one of the few locations in the UK able to handle 70mm IMAX).  But I've just been on the BFI website, and on the dates I'm back all the showings are either sold out or the only available seats are way at the front or way to the side.  Can I be bothered?  I don't know whether it's worth it.

Deja Vu

I was watching the film From the World of John Wick: Ballerina this evening, and I had the distinct feeling that I had seen it before.  Definitely the second half of the film.  Very weird.  And it's not like it's a particularly good or memorable film - like most John Wick films, just a lot of fighting and shooting (2 stars).  I wonder if I had seen it before.  Maybe on a flight, maybe just while channel-hopping.  I don't know.  And it's not helped that I kept on falling asleep during the last 15 minutes.  Not a good sign that I couldn't stay awake during the final climactic scenes.

England 1-2 Argentina

Well, that was disappointing.  I'm sure the British media will do the job of laying into Tuchel for making England way too defensive after we scored.  I didn't think we deserved to lose before that.  But neither did we deserve to win.  It was a fairly well matched game (low on scoring chances, high on niggle) until it turned into an attack versus defense training exercise.  And what was so frustrating that even with all the defenders, we seemingly still couldn't stop them crossing the ball.  It somehow felt inevitable.  Perhaps it is better that we lost this way, rather than lose in extra time or worse by penalties.  I think Argentina hates us more than we hate them.  So I hope Spain crushes them on Sunday.  And perhaps we need to remind them who still owns (and will continue to own) the Falkland Islands.  I won't bother watching the England-France game - the third place game is such a waste of time.