Best Cribs ever

51 pecent son of a bitch

Tim alerted me to the upcoming Lemmy movie. Looks like must-see material come 2009.

Absolutely Fabregas Part II

My boy Cesc Fabregas was clutch again for Spain in their Euro semifinal against Russia, making skilled passes on two goals after entering the game for injured striker David Villa. If Villa is out for today's final against Germany, Fabregas would likely get the start, which is pretty convenient for the Spanish coach even if Villa was the tournament's best player up to this point.

Should be a good game, but I'm pulling for Fabregas and Spain.

I'm also going to give some Cool Uniform Props to the goldish-yellow Spanish uniforms. They were supposed to bad luck for the team that's worn red for the rest of their games, but they didn't look like bad luck in the 3-0 win over Russia. I liked the dark blue (but not navy like the shorts and socks) used for the numbers too.

Zappin' rats

Via.

Yee haw! (pretends hands are pistols and shoots them in air)

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday, in a 5-4 vote, sided against the District of Columbia's ban on handguns.

Now I think the right to own a firearm should be preserved, in theory, but it's pretty apparent that's not all the gun rights freaks are trying to preserve. They're often quoted as saying something to the effect of "If you make guns illegal, only criminals will have them," but gun lobbyists are way too effective in making it easy as hell for criminals to get any kind of gun they want.

But anyway, reading the story kind of put me in a mood to take out a jungle ...



... or two ...

Schweinsteiger!!!

Despite the fact they weren't wearing their cooler white and blue uniforms, I was rooting for Turkey as the underdog against Germany yesterday. They lost in a great game (the parts I could see uninterrupted by Swiss lightning!), but I can't be mad at Germany or midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, whose play I've been very impressed with.

Plus, his name is fun to scream in a German accent. And he pulls his socks up higher than anyone else, so there's that.

Germany's uniforms are tight as always, but they may have garnered Cool Uniform Props had they donned these bold-ass red and black duds. Pretty crazy looking, in a good way. They've only wore the whites so far, so maybe these are their alternate colored jersey. Probably will never know as I expect Spain will be in red and Germany white for Sunday's final.

Absolutely Fabregas

Midfielder Cesc Fabregas netted the winning goal for Spain in penalty kicks against Italy Sunday, setting up today's semifinal against Russia. These penalty kick situations can be nervous, but with one goal needed for the win I was hoping my boy from Arsenal would be called upon to take the kick. He was, and that was that.

I should also note the clutch saves by Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas (below) on two PKs that set up the win.

I wasn't really rooting for either side going into the game, but when you combined Fabregas' presence with the annoying play of Italy, Italy's annoying players and Luca Toni's mustache, well, rooting for Spain became pretty easy.

Not so brilliant

Well, so much for playing great in the group stage.

Russia outplayed The Netherlands by a large margin in a Euro 2008 quarterfinal Saturday. The 1-1 score at the end of regulation was only reflective of Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar's great play, because it may well have been 6-1 otherwise. Unfortunately for the Dutch, a two-goal deficit in the overtime period was rather reflective of Russia's dominance.

Despite the fact my squad lost, I was "well impressed" (as the announcers might say) with the play of the young Russians. In support of their Cool Uniform Props status, I'd probably be inclined to root for Turkey at this point, but this Russian squad is fun to watch too.

Oh, speaking of uniforms, Holland should have stuck with the white shorts and blue socks. All orange will always be appreciated here at Orange Whip, but the other look was on point.

Aye Karimbah

Box art by Paul Pope for The Masked Karimbah toy to be released via Kidrobot. Yet another thing I would kind of need to have, if it weren't going to be sold out in two minutes.

Operacion Gordo y Blanco

Headed down the shore today to join other Smiths. Not sure of Internet situation, so I may be out of it for a few days. Be back Tuesday for some bidness before heading back down.

I'd like to thank sponsors Von Zipper, Billabong, Gatorade and the Ford Motor Co. for their support of this vacation.

Totally dude

Commenting on Holland's "total football" in the 1970s during Friday's Netherlands/France game, an ESPN announcer Andy Gray said it was difficult to identify just what the system was, aside from a bunch of great players.

If that's all it takes than the "total" is back, because the Dutch side is chock-full of talent and they're all displaying it. To wit — 3-0 against Italy, followed by Friday's 4-1 defeat of France.

This Dutch were again entertaining as hell, but this game was a bit crazier. After going up 1-0 early off a header by my boy and Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt, France seemed to take over. Despite their great offense the Dutch defense has been loose at best (aside from great goalkeeping from Manchester United's Edwin van der Sar), and French goals seemed imminent.

But while most coaches would start bolstering the defense and push for conservative play at this point, the Netherlands' Marco Van Basten instead substituted the offensive-minded midfielder Arjen Robben and forward Robin van Persie so as to put the pressure back on the French (while holding a 1-0 lead mind you), and the duo quickly teamed on a van Persie goal. Amazing stuff.

The Netherlands went all out for the win, and my brother commented that's what everyone should be doing. Indeed.

Cool Uniform Props: Turkey

I don't know if light blue has some traditional significance in Turkey, or if they just wanted to stand out from all the other red and white teams competing in Euro 2008, but I like the deep cyan and white duds they're sporting — the only red being the little flag on the chest. Very simple design overall, but with some stylized numbers. Nice.

I must say Nike has had the clear upper hand in the uniform department for Euro, though Adidas and Puma have been solid.

Goallllllllllll!

Ruud van Nistelrooy started the scoring off with his controversial goal, but Wesley Sneijder's leaping volley was the dagger in Holland's 3-0 win over Italy. It's already being called one of the greatest Dutch goals ever. While I'm not an authority on that, it was pretty damn good. Check the highlights from the game.

Orange brilliance

One of the announcers kept referencing the "brilliant orange" colors of the Netherlands supporters and the team's uniforms during the first-round Euro 2008 match between Holland and Italy Monday. Well, there was definitely some brilliance on display by the guys in orange as Holland whipped Italy 3-0, employing some of the most entertaining offensive soccer you'll see.

Most entertaining were the second and third goals by Wesley Sneijder and Giovanni van Bronckhorst — which started as defensive stops in their own box and turned into swift counter attacks. The Sneijder goal especially was a bit if brilliance.

Fun game to watch, especially if you were rooting for Nederland, which I was.

It should also go without saying that the Dutch qualify for Cool Uniform Props. I like the new blocky numbers and light blue socks.

Will the real Hunter Thompson please stand up?

Documentary on the good Doctor, narrated by Johnny Depp. Looks pretty good. July 4 release date? That's appropriate.



UPDATE: Embiggen, and view in HD stylee.

One of the good ones

Just because ... another cool Ben Templesmith piece.

Now I'm gonna show you what I already know

This is a really cool video for French techno duo zombie zombie's song "Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free." It's a cool, atmospheric song, yes, but G.I. Joe action figures performing a homage to John Carpenter's The Thing takes it over the top. It was directed by Simon Gesrel and Xavier Ehretsmann.

If you haven't seen The Thing, this won't spoil it as it's not the exact same story, but it's along the same lines. Also, if you haven't seen the movie, definitely get on that because it rules.



UPDATE: Ugh, these new YouTube borders look like crap.

On the down low

My nephew Franklin, 3 months old, staying below radar.

Head-up display

Italian Valentino Rossi took the Moto GP win Sunday in his home race at Mugello. Rossi will frequently don a specially designed helmet for the home fans, and did so again this year. And yes, that's his face. And yes, that's pretty awesome.

When he was tucked down under the windshied on the straights, the face on the helmet was looking straight ahead. Pretty funny to see that at more than 200 mph. I wish he would keep this helmet and ditch his regular design, which was new for this year and pretty hideous.

When I first saw the design, I immediately thought of this.