World Cup 2010: Final Predictions

Time to make my final predictions. I went 6/8 in the round of 16.

Uruguay vs. Ghana-Tough call here. Both sides can play defense and are very physical. I think it will be low scoring and come down to penalties. Uruguay wins.

Netherlands vs. Brazil-The Netherlands have a great team, but gave up some golden opportunities against Slovakia. Luckily for them, Slovakia lacked the talent up front to turn those chances into goals. Brazil has the talent, and will win 3-1.

Argentina vs. Germany-Lots of goals here. I think Messi will lead Argentina to a 4-3 triumph.

Paraguay vs. Spain-Nice run Paraguay, but physical play can only get you so far. Spain will dominate possession and win 3-0.

That will set up...

Uruguay vs. Brazil-C'mon, really? Brazil by two goals.

Argentina vs. Spain-This will be a close match. Argentina wins in penalties.

3rd Place

Uruguay vs. Spain-C'mon, really? Spain by two goals.

The Championship Match

Brazil vs. Argentina-Legendary stuff here. Two immensely talented sides battling it out on the pitch for the right to hoist the Cup. I hope this match happens, and, given how the South American squads ran shit in this World Cup, it will. Fabiano will get an early goal to put Brazil up 1-0. He will be offside. Robinho will get a second right before the half, sprinting down the field on a classic Brazilian counterattack. Argentina will get two in the second half, both from Messi. The second will be from distance and will shock everyone. Both teams will manage to score in extra time, making it 3-3. Now we're at penalties. Messi will put his just wide, and Brazil will win 5-4.

Then Maradona will rub his head.

Reevaluation: The 2010 World Cup

I made some bold predictions when the draw for the World Cup came out back in December. Let's see how I did.

Group A
My prediction: 1. Mexico 2. South Africa 3. France 4. Uruguay
Actual: 1. Uruguay 2. Mexico 3. South Africa 4. France

I was right about the French meltdown! My bad, Uruguay. And South Africa, nice try. You will be remembered for one name: TSHABALALA

Group B
My prediction: 1. Greece 2. Nigeria 3. Argentina 4. South Korea
Actual: 1.Argentina 2. South Korea 3. Greece 4. Nigeria

Man, did I ever screw up here...

Group C
My prediction: 1. USA 2. Algeria 3. England 4. Slovenia
Actual: 1. USA 2. England 3. Slovenia 4. Algeria

I knew you'd do it, USA!

Group D
My prediction: 1. Ghana 2. Australia 3. Germany 4. Serbia
Actual: 1. Germany 2. Ghana 3. Australia 4. Serbia

If Australia hadn't lost to Germany 4-0 in their first match things would've been different.

Group E
My prediction: 1. Netherlands 2. Cameroon 3. Denmark 4. Japan
Actual 1. Netherlands 2. Japan 3. Denmark 4. Cameroon

Cameroon was a huge disappointment. And you, Japan, nice free kicks in the Denmark game!

Group F
My prediction: 1. Italy 2. Paraguay 3. Slovakia 4. New Zealand
Actual: 1. Paraguay 2. Slovakia 3. New Zealand 4. Italy

What in the world?? Italy came in LAST? And how did New Zealand manage to tie every game?? I thought for sure they'd give up 15 goals.

Group G
My prediction: 1. Brazil 2. Ivory Coast 3. Portugal 4. North Korea
Actual: 1. Brazil 2. Portugal 3. Ivory Coast 4. North Korea

Forgive me for having faith in the Ivory Coast, a side with lots of world-class talent. And Portugal, I understand that goal differential is important, but did y'all really need to pump SEVEN into the North Korean net?

Group H
My prediction:
1. Chile 2. Switzerland 3. Spain 4. Honduras
Actual:
1. Spain 2. Chile 3. Switzerland 4. Honduras

Ahhh I almost called it! Spain was totally on the ropes after losing to Switzerland. And speaking of the Swiss, how did you guys manage to not score ONE GOAL against Honduras? How?

All in all, that's 7/16 teams right. Could've been better.

Now it's time to predict who will win in the round of 16...

Uruguay vs. South Korea-Uruguay has been a real defensive powerhouse, and South Korea was inconsistent in the first round. Uruguay wins 2-0.

USA vs. Ghana-This will be a great game. Ghana has lots of talent, but I think the U.S. can manage a 2-1 win here.

Netherlands vs. Slovakia-The Dutch steamrolled their way through the first round, and I think they'll steamroll their way through a feisty Slovakia side 3-1.

Brazil vs. Chile-Chile has loads of skilled players, but showed a lack of mental fortitude today against Spain. Brazil will win 3-0.

Argentina vs. Mexico-Yes, a rematch from '06! Argentina wins 2-1 again.

Germany vs. England-This game will be hard-fought and low scoring. It could go to penalties, a scenario that favors the Germans big time. They'll prevail 1-0.

Paraguay vs. Japan-Japan has looked very impressive in the tournament so far. I think they'll win 3-2.

Spain vs. Portugal-What a matchup! This'll be a "real cracker" as the British dudes say, and could also come down to penalties. Spain wins 3-2.

Hopefully I'll get above 50% this time!

SEE THIS MOVIE: The Secret In Their Eyes

What makes a great movie? If you ask me, the best ones have everything, meaning that they're funny, romantic, and suspenseful. Most movies try to incorporate all three of these elements, but almost always fail at genuinely incorporating at least one. The Secret In Their Eyes, Argentine-produced and winner of Best Foreign Film at the Oscars this year, does indeed have everything, and it's all genuine. It's a story about lost love, revenge, and, ultimately, about forgetting the past and living in the present. It's also very funny, and is the only movie I've ever seen that had me doubled over with laughter several times AND feeling chills on two different occasions. And did I mention that it's beautifully shot, convincingly acted, and has a heart-wrenching score? Am I getting my point across? This is a movie's movie, and you will not need to watch anything else for a long time after seeing it.

Summertime Playlist

School's almost out and I'm ready to be a deadbeat for a few months. Here are the tracks I'll be listening to the most:

1. Free Energy-"Bang Pop"-This is the best song from their debut LP Stuck On Nothing. I've already written about how much I like it. See below.

2. Caribou-"Odessa"-Sounds like spaced out jungle funk. Or just a great song one can groove to.

3. The Radio Dept.-"Heaven's On Fire"-So much warmth in this one. Must be because they're from Sweden.

4. Delorean-"Simple Graces"-Massive-sounding song with a host of catchy vocal samples.

5. Broken Social Scene-"Meet Me In The Basement"-Feelgood instrumental track.

6. Fang Island-"Daisy"-See #5.

7. Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings-"Better Things"-The grooviest track I've heard in a very long time.

8. Janelle Monae Featuring Big Boi-"Tightrope"-Standout from her wildly diverse album The ArchAndroid.

9. Ke$ha-"Dinosaur"-She ripped a page out of the Lily Allen playbook on this one. Catchy as hell.

10. Sleigh Bells-"Rill Rill"-I've gotten over the fact that they ripped off Funkadelic. Sounds like people making out.

11. Vampire Weekend-"Holiday"-Infectious pop with a Strokes jr. guitar flareup.

12. Gorillaz-"On Melancholy Hill"-Gorgeous. Damon Albarn=The modern day Ray Davies.

13. Yeasayer-"O.N.E."-What a jam. They take genres and throw them into the blender.

14. Washed Out-"You'll See It"-Doood, I'm so chill listenin' to my chillwave.

15. Crystal Castles-"Pap Smear"-What a Crystal Castles thing to do. They take the prettiest track on their stellar new album and give it a name like "Pap Smear."

16. LCD Soundsystem-"Home"-I was going to go with "All I Want," but that song is too depressing. This one's uplifting and VERY danceable.

17. DOM-"Living In America"-Summer in a nutshell.

Enjoy the warm weather. I'll be out catching fireflies and playing wiffle ball.

Classic LP: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

I'm pretty sure that this album, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's self-titled debut and for all intents and purposes the only good album they will ever release, came from another world. A world where screeching vocals combine with loopy electronics and impassioned guitar strumming to create wonderful music. Nothing I've ever listened to sounds like this, and it's almost like Alec Ounsworth was an alien sent down to inject us humans with a much-needed dose of feeling. So many highlights on this thing. How about when Alec yells "It'll be a long hard road!" on "Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away?" Or the 1-2 punch of "The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth" and "Is This Love?" The transition between the two is astonishing. Or the closer, "Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood," which may be about the Iraq War, Lindsay Lohan, or, more likely given the quirkiness of this record, both. Out of leftfield and packed with emotion, this is surely one of my favorite albums ever.

The Roots Picnic

Yesterday's Roots Picnic was quite an experience. A hip-hop festival at its roots, (that was preconceived) it also featured sets from non hip-hop acts like Tune-Yards, Mayer Hawthorne, and Vampire Weekend. This produced the most diverse crowd of humans I've seen since the last time I was at Philly International. Shit was like an airport. Hair gel-ed heads, dreadlocked heads, bald heads, heads with quirky hats, turbaned heads (just one) and even some salt and pepper heads were there. There was also an incredibly large number of white boys wearing old basketball jerseys. Really annoying. I saw one kid with a Larry Johnson Hornets jersey and it was like "Oh, cool!" Then I saw another kid with a Grant Hill Pistons jersey circa 2000 or so and it was like "Wow, another outdated NBA jersey." By the time I saw a dude in a Darius Miles Clippers jersey it was like "Go stick your head in one of those Mr. Johns, pluhhhese."

Anyways, here are my thoughts on some of the acts:

The first band we saw was Bajah and the Dry Eye Crew. They opened by saying some crap about how we were all going to Africa, but most of their songs sounded like old school R&B. The only difference between them and James Brown was that James Brown didn't have an African accent.

Tune-yards came on next. I was familiar with her material and enjoyed her tragically short live set. She only got about twenty minutes, and she was sort of winning over the initially perplexed crowd when she had to take a bow. Bummer.

Now it was four o'clock, and I was falling asleep on my feet. I was too tired to even want to talk to anyone. Thankfully, The Very Best came out and delivered a delicious dose of sugary afro-electropop that made me dance around like a fifteen year old. They even stole the beat from Yeasayer's "Ambling Alp" and put some lyrics on it. My only complaint was that Ezra Koenig, who sings on "Warm Heart of Africa," was standing ON THE SIDE OF THE STAGE WATCHING as they performed the song using a pre-recorded version of his vocals. Get your butt out there, sir.

By this point it was about five o'clock or so and we were sun-drenched and tired of standing. We went inside and sat indian style and talked about how hot it was. Then we went outside and caught some of Jay Electronica's set. He rambled on stage a bit too much, but his beats were good and he seemed to use a lot of big words. I like it when rappers use big words instead of talking about "bitchez."

Mayer Hawthorne was next, and seemed to be a very polarizing figure. Many people left during his set. I like his music, so I danced around like a fifteen year old. He covered "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO, and ended with a rousing rendition of "The Ills."

I'm having a hard time recalling what happened after that. I think we stood around and then the Roots came on. Their show was tremendous. They had a massive band and produced a massive sound. There was the guy with the tuba. And the guitar hero. And the bass virtuoso. And there was Questlove, who was fun to watch because his Afro was flopping around when he was drumming. The only thing I didn't like about their set was that they kept stopping in the middle of songs like they were playing freeze tag. Real annoying. They were at their best when John Legend came out for the last few songs. I've always sort of dismissed John Legend as being a poptart, but he proved me wrong. I think they should form a band with him as their lead singer and reinvent Marvin Gaye.

Then three members of the Wu-Tang Clan (Ghostface, Raekwon, and Method Man) came out and yelled a lot, much to the crowd's approval. The only songs I recognized were "Method Man" and "C.R.E.A.M." because life's too short to listen to every damn album a member or combination of members of Wu-Tang put out. A lot of white people made their hands into the letter W, and a lot of black people snickered. I would've snickered if I were black. Real rap. Then Black Thought was like "Vampire Weekend is coming on next" and some people cheered and the hip-hop fans left and went to the little ass tent to see The Clipse.

It really cleared out at this point, so we were able to get pretty close to the stage for Vampire Weekend, the reason I bought tickets to this event in the first place. The crowd was either really tired or didn't even like Vampire Weekend because not many people were singing along or dancing around. Lizzy and I were though, so it was still fun. Waaay fun. Worth standing around in the sun for nine hours fun.

I'd do it again.