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by Edward Champion

Zidane: The Smuggest Player of the World Cup

zidane4.jpg

I was at the Irish Bank this afternoon with some pals (including a friend from Liverpool, who, with diplomatic intentions, refused to pick a team), rooting for Italy in the World Cup Final. But any shreds of sympathy I had for France disappeared with the arrival of Zineidine “Hubris Is the Secret Answer to Life” Zidane. The first indication that Zidane was problematic was when he was injured late in the second half, beckoning the medical authorities to him as if they were servants offering canapes rather than doctors restoring injuries. And then there was the head butt (pictured above) against Marco Materazzi — perhaps the lowest blow I saw during the World Cup. Thankfully, he was given a red card.

I hereby vote Zidane the Smuggest Player of the World Cup. He is everything that soccer should not be. So long as he plays, I cannot find it within me to root for France.

by Edward Champion

T.C. Boyle Week

If you enjoyed the Black Swan Green discussion earlier in the year, on Monday, I’ll begin posting the roundtable discussion of T.C. Boyle’s Talk Talk, now in progress via email. It features none other than Dan Wickett, Megan Sullivan, Gwenda Bond, (hopefully) Scott Esposito and yours truly. Is Talk Talk a genre experiment by a highbrow writer? Or is it something more? Find out on Monday morning as the peanut gallery serves up their thoughts.

And for those who enjoyed The Bat Segundo Show #10, I’m pleased to report that Our Young, Roving Correspondent will be chatting with Mr. Boyle again. Keep watching the skies.

There will also be two podcasts released next week, including a certain Show #50 that some people can wait no longer for.

by Edward Champion

Slackers: In Cinema & Real Life

Jeffrey Wells observes a cinematic trend that I remarked upon in contemporary literature a few months ago: movies that, in Wells’ words, involve “GenX guys in their early to mid 30s who’re having trouble growing up.” (Wells doesn’t cite Adam Sternbergh’s “grups” article from earlier in the year, but it does tie into the nagging question.) Personally, I think that any films or literature dealing with the subject might offer a few valuable reasons why. But to expand Wells’ question, speaking as a man in his early thirties happily immature in a lot of ways, has he not observed the dark underbelly of the American dream (i.e., rising real estate prices, the disparity between the rich and the poor)? Has he not observed the troubling sense of self-entitlement that many twentysomethings (and even thirtysomethings) seem to possess? Has he not observed that couples are getting married and having children later? Or the bedlam of luxuries (cell phones, DVDs, SUVs, the Internet, Scandanivan furniture) that have sent a cultural shock wave through the Western world and beyond during the past fifteen years?

While there is certainly something to be said for growing old gracefully, one might also argue that prudence in choosing one’s calling is sometimes a virtue. Even so, it saddens me to see friends with remarkable potential remaining quite blissfully inert after living lives devoid of chance-taking. Then again, if they’re happy, who am I to pass judgment?