Just a game?

So I read Herman and Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent for my tutorial, and while researching for my essay, also visited Chomsky's website where I read several interviews he gave about the book.

This was a very interesting excerpt:
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QUESTION: When we talk about manufacturing of consent, whose consent is being manufactured?

CHOMSKY: To start with, there are two different groups...One is what's sometimes called the political class. There's maybe twenty percent of the population which is relatively educated, more or less articulate, plays some kind of role in decision-making. They're supposed to sort of participate in social life -- either as managers, or cultural managers like teachers and writers and so on. They're supposed to vote, they're supposed to play some role in the way economic and political and cultural life goes on. Now their consent is crucial. So that's one group that has to be deeply indoctrinated. Then there's maybe eighty percent of the population whose main function is to follow orders and not think, and not to pay attention to anything -- and they're the ones who usually pay the costs.

He then continues:

Now there are other media too whose basic social role is quite different: it's diversion. There's the real mass media-the kinds that are aimed at, you know, Joe Six Pack -- that kind. The purpose of those media is just to dull people's brains.

This is an oversimplification, but for the eighty percent or whatever they are, the main thing is to divert them. To get them to watch National Football League.... Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]... You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports.
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I thought my coming across Chomsky's insight was really timely given the FIFA World Cup that's just started (and that fact that I just gushed all about Man Utd in a previous post), and the jingoistic fervour and excitement that accompanies it. Ever since reading the above, every time I get my entertain/sports news fix, I think to myself: I'm part of the brainwashed, depoliticized, dumb-ass 80% of the populace. Gulp.

Kenny made a really funny point when I shared this finding to him. This system of distraction was essentially the same one the Romans employed for their citizens - think the Gladatorial activities, which were also meant to divert the citizens' attention away from the problems the Empire might be facing.

The big difference between us and the Romans, however, is that while the Romans got to enjoy their Gladatorial sports for free (entry into the colisseums was free. Bread was given out for free at the shows too), we modern-day dumb-asses actually shell out a lot of hard-earned money to get entertained. The powers that be don't even need to entice us with freebies.

Oh, how we've regressed. LOL.

Mad Skillz, y'all

This just needed to be posted:

Cristiano would be proud.

And how about this for a counter-attack?

United at their Fergie-influenced best: Swift, incisive, effective breaks. All hail King Rooney!

Served up!

Yay, went to the school website a while back and saw these pics of me in action playing competitive tennis! So yeah, I have on the SLC tennis team the past two years. We're obviously not Div I or anything remotely in the same region, so it's pretty non-competitive and fun.

It's also been crazy playing tennis on early spring nights where it can go as low as 6degC! Thankfully, tennis practice is a really laid-back affair, unlike soccer practice, which is the total opposite. The coolest part of being on the tennis team is that we get to play our conference finals at Flushing Meadows! No playing on the show courts obvously, but still, it's a fun experience.

Mid-air while serving. Good clearance, I must say!

Completing the serve motion, up and over. I think serving's the only thing which, despite my lack of proper tennis training, is pretty orthodox and correct. The rest is all a bit japalang.

Hitting a forehand. Bad positioning here, for any would-be player reading, because I'm backing away from the ball, rather than stepping forward to receive it (see how my left leg is behind my right. It should be about even instead)
That's the really really small team we have. From left, that's Coach Hassan , Vaughn, moi, Adam, Ben (who are brothers), and Eelum. Hassan was also the soccer team's coach. He's a really cool guy. He was a lawyer, but left the practice to become involved in coaching instead. Vaughn's NYC born and bred, Adam and Ben were German-born, but live in NY now too. And Eelum's int'l too, from Nepal. And that's my mini-intro of my team mates. No idea why I felt the need to do that.

Too bad there aren't many pics of the soccer team, and of the ones that were taken, I'm not in them. :( lol.

Sheer Genius

Two of the most important goals of United's campaign this year.

Just like that, a star is born.

And this one....what else can you say but 'wow'. It actually takes like 1 sec for the ball to go for foot to goal - that was how long the distance was. Really, Messi has an amazing ability to keep the ball stuck to his feet, but Ronaldo has the overall package and is the best player in the world.

The Fed Express reaches its stop.

Nothing is forever, and this .gif (from Federer's loss to Djokovic in the worst match of the year) sums up the great Swiss presently. Can't say I'm not enjoying it! Heh.

On the subject of tennis, now that Safin is pretty much done, I'm having trouble finding someone new to support. I do like Nadal very much, but he doesn't inspire Safin-levels of passion. Murray, I really like his game - big first serve, powerful off both wings, great hands, great touch, very intelligent player with lots of variety. But that personality is a massive turn-off. Ugh.

And Maria, please get well and come back soon! The WTA needs you badly!

Of face plants and sore butts

The school offers a whole bunch of fun PE classes every quarter. Every student is required to complete at least 2 quarters of PE classes as a graduation requirement. It's part of the whole 'broad-based education' mantra. I've done soccer, badminton and rock climbing thus far, and having been on the tennis and soccer teams, have more than fulfilled my PE requirements. Still, the great rates the school offered for its skiing class meant I had to sign up! So, for 3 Fridays in February, a bunch of us bused up to Thunder Ridge, a small mountain (more hill, really) about an hour north of Yonkers, for afternoons of icy pain (for me)!

Some of my fellow skiers - Tatiana, Lakshmi and Lydia and I.

I tried skiing the first week, thinking it would be easier. And it sort of is, because it's vaguely similar to rollerblading or ice-skating. But I had a big problem! I couldn't stop! So you are supposed to make a V shape with your skis to stop, but try as I might, I just couldn't! So I would go up the ski lift, and plunge straight down, constantly accelerating because I couldn't stop! Result: Face plant!
Still, the more experienced girls reckoned I did alright, and because they were bored of the beginners' hill (which was a relatively straight and gentle slope), decided to go to the intermediate one and asked me to come along. Big mistake. The whole can't stop deal? Yeah, that's exacerbated by a way steeper incline + twists and turns + dozens of experienced skiers/snowboarders constantly zooming past you. I did it twice. The second time, I gather so much speed down the final slope, and still not being able to stop, I crashed through the plastic net barrier way at the base of the hill. Thank goodness that was a plastic net, and not, say, a concrete wall!

The grace of a rhino, or something.

The next two weeks, I decided to switch to snowboarding. It's a lot more difficult than skiing in that you fall a hella lot more. Seriously, I wished I had some sort of ass padding, because I fell hard 3944394 times (didn't help that the fluffy snow had melted and refrozen to become hard as fuck ice. OUch.). But, I felt like I picked up snowboarding better. Still, I have problems, of course, the main one being that I can only go in one direction - right! So When I attempted that cursed intermediate hill again, it was lights out whenever there was a left turn. LOL. Tatiana and I on the long ski lift ride up the intermediate slope.

Off the ski slope! Our PE class was named 'Twilight Skiing' because, yeah.

Standing pretty on our board! Oh yeah, boarding is a lot of troublesome because each time you get to the bottom, you have to remove one foot from the board to be able to move, because you can't exactly glide along on a board without the aid of gravity.

Hopefully, I'll get another opportunity to snowboard or ski soon! Dream is Europe next year. Wonder how expensive it is. Target: Learn to brake on skis, and turn left and board back facing front!

Singapore soccer makes international news

What a surprise to find a Singapore headline on Soccernet.com's homepage whilst on my daily visit to the site. Too bad it wasn't for qualification into the World Cup or something. Maybe next time.

Jordan and Singapore battle with broomsticks
January 29, 2009
Jordanian soccer players attacked their Singaporean counterparts with bottles and broomsticks after losing an Asian Cup qualifier on Wednesday, Singaporean newspapers reported on Thursday.
A Reuters witness at Singapore's national stadium heard loud shouts for police assistance moments after both teams had walked into a tunnel leading to their changing rooms, and saw police rushing into the tunnel.
"The Jordanians attacked with whatever they could find, like broomsticks, plastic bottles, dustbins and even a metal electric fan," the Straits Times paper quoted Singapore's team manager Eugene Loo as saying, after he witnessed the minute-long brawl.
The punch-up followed a tense game that Singapore won 2-1, which revitalised the city-state's Asian Cup qualification campaign. The teams were escorted out of their changing rooms and into their buses separately afterwards, a Reuters witness said.
"I'm disappointed that the Jordanians resorted to violent behaviour. We were only walking back to our dressing room to celebrate our victory when they rushed out to whack us - they were totally crazy," the Straits Times quoted Singaporean midfielder Mustafic Fahrudin as saying.
Singapore, known for its lack of violence, also saw rare crowd trouble in the Asian Football Federation Cup semi-final match last month when Singaporean and Vietnamese fans clashed.

I'm sure this was a Newpaper frontpage headline. Congrats Singapore for the victory, and for your brief moment of infamy!

Missing the Olympics.

Thanks to my general lack of productivity and industry during my summer holidays, I was able to watch the Olympics every single day, catching everything from the likes of swimming, gymnastics, tennis, athletics, volleyball, handball, diving and table tennis (of course!). J'adore l'Olympic!

Life goal: Attend at least one summer games!

In honour of the spectacle that was Beijing '08, here's one of the stars of the Games. Ms Anastasia Nastia Liukin!

*Magic fingers*

Somehow, the seeming casualness as she's doing a flip that's captured in this photo reminds me of how the characters in the Peanuts comic strips walk.

Only one word to describe her: Fierce.