Twitter Foils UK Celebrities’ Favorite Weapon: The Super-Injunction
Ryan Giggs. Photo: Allison Pasciuto
The worst kept secret in Britain has been completely undermined by an onslaught of tweets. Chris Gayomali reviews the Ryan Giggs affair for TIME:
Earlier this month Ryan Giggs, a professional soccer player who plays for the U.K.’s Manchester United, obtained a court-ordered injunction to keep secret the details of an extra-marital affair with British television personality Imogen Thomas. The short story is that he didn’t want the U.K. press writing about his misconducts.
The move appeared to backfire, however, when news of the injunction spread like wildfire through over 70,000 Twitter accounts, causing Mr. Giggs to take up legal action against “persons unknown” as well as the social network itself.
Legal experts assumed that gag orders breached on Twitter were protected because the website is outside of the British legal system’s jurisdiction.
However, in a surprising move, a senior executive from Twitter admitted to the Telegraph that it would turn user information over…
Robotic Clouds Could Help Cool 2022 Qatar World Cup (Animation)
BBC Sport reports:
Scientists at Qatar University claim to have developed artificial clouds to provide shade for stadia and training grounds at the 2022 World Cup.
The fierce summer heat in the Gulf has led to concerns about conditions for players and fans at the tournament. Temperatures in June and July can reach up to 50 C.
Qatar were announced as hosts in December, and Fifa president Sepp Blatter initially said he expected the 2022 competition to be moved to winter.
But Blatter has since stated that he feels the tournament will go ahead as planned in the summer months. Qatar plan to air condition their World Cup stadia via solar power, and now scientists have designed the ‘clouds’, which can be produced at a cost of $500,000 (about £310,000) each.
Eric Cantona Foments A New French Revolution
Eric Cantona first achieved fame playing soccer for Manchester United and France. He was an extremely talented striker, but perhaps is best known for his flying kung fu-style kick at a heckling fan. That’s all in the past though, and Cantona has a new career as a budding indie film star. Apparently he’s also quite conscious of the fact that there’s not much liberté, égalité or fraternité in France or the rest of the world these days, and he knows just how to bring about another revolution: everyone should go to their bank and withdraw all their cash. The system would crash and, voilà, la Révolution! Here he is in an October interview explaining how it works:
Those Damn Yanks! Are Americans Intent on Destroying Football Around the Globe?
If the U.S. earning a draw with England wasn’t bad enough for the Brits, here comes another blow. Another Yankee is trying to purchase one of their beloved football teams Liverpool. Alex Massie writes in the Daily Beast:
If Red Sox owner John Henry’s purchase of Liverpool soccer club goes through, he’ll have to clean up the mess left by its current owner, former Texas Rangers chief Tom Hicks.
This week, John Henry and the New England Sports Ventures consortium made great strides in their attempts to purchase Liverpool football club. For once, an American takeover of a great English institution is being welcomed — but only because it means running the previous American owners out of town. Better the wealthy Americans you don’t know than the ones you do.
That’s because owners of American sports teams have a history of running English football clubs into the ground. Liverpool, the most successful football…
The Bolivian President’s Infamous Knee Strike Video
Just in case anyone missed it (I know, you’re not all soccer fans), President Evo Morales of Bolivia caused a stir last weekend when he kneed a player on an opposing soccer team in the groin and had the misfortune of having his dirty deed caught on video tape:
Here’s what Morales had to say for himself:
“The player who kicked me started to insult me and offend me and I very much regret my reaction. I ask forgiveness to the sportsmen, to the players, to the player. But after kicking me, it was another insult, a reaction. Again, I ask for forgiveness. Sport is integration, but later I realized it was a trap.”
The World Cup Of Robot Soccer
In addition to the World Cup, this summer featured RoboCup — an international tournament in which teams of soccer-playing robots square off. The level of play is low, and the game is often unsettling to watch, as when a fallen robot player struggles fruitlessly to right itself, limbs flailing. The hope, however, is that by 2050, a robot team skilled enough to compete against humans will be developed.
The World Cup’s Effect on South Africa’s District 9…
A mashup of two films about South Africa: one you’ll surely recognize, the other is World Cup Soccer in Africa, distributed by Disinformation.
Germans Want To Throw Psychic Octopus Into Shark Tank
Paul the Octopus in his aquarium tank next to a soccer shoe marked with the German flag colors. Photo: Tilla (CC)
You knew the psychic octopus was going to upset a lot of people in its homeland, Germany, if it predicted–correctly–a loss for their team. As AFP/The Local reports, the eight-legged wonder now needs all its supernatural powers to remain in good health:
It won’t come as much of a consolation to heartbroken German fans, but at least Paul, Germany’s now world-famous “Octopus oracle,” has maintained his perfect record predicting World Cup matches this summer…
The “psychic” creature has correctly predicted all six of Germany’s matches and, amid excruciating drama broadcast live on national television on Tuesday, plumped for Spain, causing anguish across the country.
The eight-legged soccer soothsayer was spot on Wednesday, as Carles Puyol’s semi-final header shattered Germany’s dreams of winning their fourth World Cup…
According to daily Der Westen, there have been “a…
World Cup Replica Made of Cocaine Found in Colombia
BBC News reports:
A replica World Cup trophy seized by anti-drugs police in Colombia is made out of cocaine, lab tests have confirmed. The 36cm (14in) statue was found in a delivery crate at Bogota airport.
The crate was in an airmail warehouse waiting to be sent to an address in Spain, airport anti-drug chief Jose Piedrahita said. In another development, a submarine built by drug-traffickers was found in Ecuador before its maiden voyage.
The World Cup replica was made up of 11kg (24 lb) of the drug, mixed with acetone or gasoline to make it mouldable.
John Cleese Rants on “Soccer” vs. “Football”
John Cleese from the documentary The Art of Soccer (Football) from A to Z:
Ooh-Ah, Doctor Who!
Eric Cantona. Photo: Georges Biard (CC)
It’s not often that the worlds of sci fi and soccer overlap, but the Daily Star reports that former French footie star Eric Cantona (his mega-success at Manchester United led to the terrace chant “Ooh-Ah Cantona”) will be part of the cast on Britain’s classic TV show Doctor Who:
Football legend Eric Cantona is set to inject a bit of Ooh Ah into Doctor Who.
The former Manchester United star is being lined up for a role as an evil alien alongside Time Lord Matt Smith. And producers are hoping the Frenchman might show off some of his famous Kung Fu moves in his baddie part.
Cantona, 44, famously attacked a fan with a high kick during a match against Crystal Palace in 1995.
But since then, the footballer has become a serious actor and had a series of roles, including a part in a Brit flick Looking For Eric.…
South Africans on the First World Cup In Africa
The Daily Show’s John Oliver learns about the rich African culture at the World Cup, like their traditional hand-carved FIFA ballpoint pens. Gotta love that FIFA-only zone imposed around the stadium…
Are North Korea’s “World Cup Fans” Hired Chinese Actors?
Many of the strangest aspects of this year’s World Cup relate to team North Korea. The latest intrigue: were the throngs of “North Korean soccer fans” filling stands in the match against Brazil actually Chinese actors? The London Evening Standard writes:
Perhaps it was their identical red outfits or how their applause was directed by a “conductor” that suggested the North Koreans in the Ellis Park stadium in South Africa were no ordinary fans. FIFA officials and millions of television viewers were surprised when rows of red-clad “North Koreans” took their seats, believing the harsh regime had allowed its citizens freedom to travel.
Although they sang their national anthem loudly, the group tended only to cheer when directed by a man who stood before them like an orchestra’s conductor.
Meanwhile, another party of fans confirmed rumors they were Chinese, having obtained tickets through a Chinese sports PR agency, authorized to sell part of the…
FIFA Should Do The Right Thing For South Africa
Craig Tanner, director of the disinformation documentary World Cup Soccer In Africa: Who Really Wins, says that South Africa can’t afford the World Cup and FIFA should put some of its enormous TV revenues into the country; writing for the Hamilton Spectator:
South Africa is in the throes of unprecedented euphoria following the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This should come as no surprise given the historic nature of South Africa’s hosting of an event of this magnitude, and the fact that the country will be the focal point of the world for the duration of the tournament.
That South Africa was considered to have the capacity to stage the tournament, and appears ready to do so, is plainly cause for national pride.
However, while FIFA will receive more than twice the amount of television licence fees than from the World Cup held four years ago in Germany, South Africa will…
Stephen Colbert Ruins The US-UK Special Relationship
Stephen Colbert makes the English feel even worse about BP and “The Hand of Clod.” Genius stuff.
Why the Far Right Hates Soccer
I already love soccer, but the mere fact that the likes of Glenn Beck feel threatened by its mainstream popularity in the United States makes me want to love the beautiful game even more! Dave Zirin writes for The Nation/NPR:
Every World Cup, it arrives like clockwork. As sure as the ultimate soccer spectacle brings guaranteed adrenaline and agony to fans across the United States, it also drives the right-wing noise machine utterly insane.
“It doesn’t matter how you try to sell it to us,” yipped the Prom King of new right, Glenn Beck. “It doesn’t matter how many celebrities you get, it doesn’t matter how many bars open early, it doesn’t matter how many beer commercials they run, we don’t want the World Cup, we don’t like the World Cup, we don’t like soccer, we want nothing to do with it.”
Beck’s wingnut godfather, G. Gordon Liddy also said on his radio program,
‘Whatever…
South African Team May Use “Muti” Magic To Win World Cup
The South African national soccer team’s nickname “Bafana Bafana” is sometimes pejoratively renamed “Banana Banana” in SA, due to their underwhelming performances, so if they can use some good old black magic to assist them in the World Cup, it will be much needed! Report by Nicolas Brulliard for the Wall Street Journal:
JOHANNESBURG—As the second-lowest ranked team in the World Cup competition, South Africa is expected to lose its opening match Friday against Mexico. But to ensure victory, Michael Mvakali recommends a simple fix: a concoction of plants and animal limbs.
“You use the horse’s foot and the ostrich leg, you mix it with some herbs and you put it on the players, on their knees and their legs, and when they kick, even the goalkeeper can’t get hold of that ball…
2010 World Cup Good Luck Charm: Smoking Vulture Brains
One of the hottest 2010 World Cup South Africa items is vulture brains. Soccer gamblers smoke the brains in order to bring good luck to their teams of choice. Plus, smoking vulture brains is as pleasant, smooth and mellow as a filtered cigarette at sunset. The U.K.’s Metro notes:
Conservationists believe the growth of ‘muti’ magic in South Africa ahead of the World Cup has seen a surge in poaching of Cape vultures, already at risk from lack of food and poisoning.
‘The harvesting of the bird’s heads by followers of muti magic is an additional threat these birds can’t endure,’ said Mark Anderson, of BirdLife South Africa.
Steve McKean, from KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, who has been studying the decline of vultures due to muti magic, said: ‘Our research suggests that killing of vultures for so-called “traditional” use could render the Cape vulture extinct in some parts of South Africa within half a century.
…
Snoop & Daft Punk In World Cup Star Wars Video Mashup
Following on the Star Wars theme (see my last post about the comeback of the Star Wars Kid), here’s an admittedly corporate but still excellent Star Wars Cantina mashup released just in time for the FIFA World Cup and featuring David Beckham, Daft Punk, Snoop Dogg, Franz Beckenbauer, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, Ciara, Jay Baruchel, and DJ Neil Armstrong. The gang at disinformation are skeptical about the benefits of the World Cup for South Africans, but on the other hand can’t wait to see the actual soccer…
