The Munich Empire Takes Rome
Rome’s defensive force just isn’t what it used to be.
Bundesliga juggernaut Bayern Munich traveled to Rome for a Champions League match against AS Roma yesterday. In the dawn of this season, FC Holywood was struggling (meaning they actually lost and/or tied a game or two). These minor hiccups (following a successful, hard fought World Cup for many of its star players mind you) are extrapolated because the expectations continue to be astronomical for Pep Guardiola after guiding a golden generation at Barcelona and the fact that he had the impossible task of directly following Jupp Heynckes’ record-breaking, treble winning season. Actually, Pep’s won everything Jupp did in that unforgettable 2012-2013 season, except a Champions league title. Sort of a big omission. Pep had a few words about his strategy in the disastrous semi-final leg versus Real Madrid, but this is a family-friendly blog. To paraphrase, he said ‘it was his biggest goof of his career.’ Still, thus far, Bayern Munich has earned two 1-nil victories in their 2014-2015 Champions League quest against Manchester City and CSKA Moscow. Next up was s trip to Italy against AS Roma.
In-depth analysis could break this game down, but someone graciously compiled a video that encapsulates the tone and feel of the match…in 6 seconds.
(Just click on the video to pause it)
Bayern Munich 7-1 AS Roma.
Pep’s Boys are officially back in top form. Simply put, this was a statement game for a final that won’t be played for around 7 months on June 6, 2015. And by the way, the UEFA Champions League Final is in Berlin at the Olympiastadion.
How do you say, “relentless focus” in German?
Looks like Pep’s rewriting it so that it starts with Bayern and ends in Munich (technically Berlin, but you know what I’m saying).
The Dark Apple
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
(emphasis on the latter here)
Rumor is that acclaimed actor Christian Bale is the leading candidate for portraying the late Steve Jobs in the major motion picture based on Walter Isaacson’s biography of the technology icon, with a screenplay penned by Aaron Sorkin. Fans of Bale, especially for his role as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s epic Dark Knight trilogy, cannot help but dream about the prospects of the actor bringing the same kind of intelligent, conflicted and controversial edge to the Apple co-founder (who was also intelligent, conflicted and controversial) as he did with Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego.
Every once in a while, Conan O’Brien and his team does something entertaining. The video clip below is one of those moments:
Steve Jobs’ black turtlenecks apparently had more armor than I realized…
Happy Monday!
We try, day in and day out, but to no avail.
Insanity is, of course, doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results. But changing routine can be a trying experience, and this is especially true when our alarms ring so discouragingly loud on Monday mornings. Can we really muster the energy and mental strength to alter our seemingly predetermined life trajectory?
So, what do we do?
Just remember the inspirational figure featured in the video below. Okay, not inspirational, but so confused by the tendencies of basic human interaction that he, by the lightning strike of Zeus, concocts a new and successful outlook on life…however brief.
George Costanza: The man, the myth, the something else.
Happy Opposite Day/Week!
The Infinite Wisdom of #8
“A button on a string
And I heard everything
Now here I go”
The highly-anticipated HBO documentary, Sonic Highways, debuts tonight at 11:00 p.m. ET that chronicles the making of the Foo Fighters’ eighth studio album. The album’s title is also Sonic Highways. Each hour-long episode is set in a major American city with uniquely important musical roots and it will include recording sessions, video and commentary of each city’s culture, as well as the all-valuable interviews. The band spent one week in each location and, on the last day, Dave Grohl compiled lyrics with key phrases from the interviews. Icons (known and unknown to the general public) in the music industry from virtually every genre are featured, ranging from LL Cool J to Dolly Parton to Willie Nelson to a bevy of punk rockers and longtime producers in the industry. Grohl, Hawkins, Shiflett, Mendel, Smear and Jaffee learn things from these musicians that influence their music today, as well as reminisce with these musicians about their younger days that remind them why they play music for a living.
The album contains eight songs, so therefore eight episodes. This implies that only the best songs made the record. It’s ambitious. It’s creative. It’s inspiring. It’s fun. It’s rock ‘n roll.
It’s Foo Fighters.
Below is a snippet of their first single, “Something from Nothing.”
The Sonic Highways album will be released November 10th, once again produced by Butch Vig. And fans of his and the band know this collaboration means this record will have maxed out its potential from this cross-country musical journey. This follow-up partnership from “Wasting Light” alone is exciting.
There’s something special here and the Foo Fighters have wasted no effort to deliver it.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 