Blog Archives
A Name is a Name is a Name
Happy Friday!
Or is it Happy Day Before Saturday?
It’s funny how much value can be put into certain names. For example, this blog is called Jimmy’s Daily Planet. My name, as you can probably guess, is Jimmy. However, my formal name is James and the shorter version of Jimmy is Jim. Personally, I go by Jimmy. However, I am not bothered if someone calls me by either James or Jim. Thinking about it, having essentially three names is rather cool and unique.
Kudos to my parents for that 3-for-1 deal. While admittedly not as poetic as “A rose is a rose is a rose,” the personally adapted phrase, “A Jimmy is a James is a Jim” still has a nice little ring to it.
For other people, their name is their name. For some people, naming their child is a 1-for-1 deal and literally nothing more.
Just a subtle reminder of the strange, yet awesome wonder that is the human being.
Grown Ups Also Dream of a Popcorn Volcano
With the past few records, Coldplay has been far less cold and much more play.
There are some bands that seem to have just the right song for us, almost tailor-made when we need it most. Perhaps that’s one of the many reasons why Coldplay is as highly-regarded as they are these days. The British quartet understand how to hit the exact right notes, both melodically and lyrically. While rock n’ roll is the greatest form of music, there are moments when the dial needs to be turned down with an emphasis on day dreaming and our imaginations (even though the latter can contribute to what’s driving us crazy).
Slowing things down and dreaming wildly to find those precious answers to those pressing questions, this time with a perspective far beyond any construct found within our known reality?
Scroll down&down for a much-needed escape this Tuesday.
Why not see the world this way?
Don’t give your imagination the cold shoulder.
Play.
The Club Should Have Recruited a 14th Member
Fortunately, the superstitious occurrence known as “Friday the 13th” has nothing to do with preventing people from reading awesome blogs.
And that’s a good thing because, courtesy of the YouTube channel Life Noggin, we’re going to get a fresh perspective for attempting to interpret the most frightful of days connected to an unlucky number. There are many superstitions attached to “Friday the 13th,” which include black cats, mirrors breaking and the dreaded number 66 – I’ll spare us all by not typing that last number that falls between 5 and 7.
Time to look at this day with some fascinating historical perspective.
The worst part about today was that there was a bag filled with one million dollars on the ground, but I would’ve had to walk under a ladder to grab the cool million.
Oh well, hopefully the money will still be there tomorrow on Saturday the 14th.
Fun Fact: The 13 Club that was founded in New York with members who dared to walk under ladders and break mirrors (as seen in the video). This group eventually became known as the New York Mets.
(Not true, but how perfect would that have been!)
FIFA: What is Your Malfunction?
As my old club soccer coach famously yelled to me across the indoor pitch after I made my very first mistake with my new team, “Boy, what is your malfunction?”
Read the quote below and you’ll understand why I opened with that priceless soccer memory.
“An initial stage of 16 groups of three teams will precede a knockout stage for the remaining 32 when the change is made for the 2026 tournament.
The sport’s world governing body voted unanimously in favour of the change at a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday.”
–BBC Football Online
Shocking? No. Sad? Yes.
Most importantly: Will the World Cup evolve into a better tournament through this expansion effort in 2026? No.
As has been recently discussed in more depth on Jimmy’s Daily Planet back on December 28th (Participation Trophies…for Adults?), the competitiveness of the World Cup will suffer with this expansion. Additionally, FIFA, which is governed by the new president Gianni Infantino, has voluntarily prolonged the embarrassing era with its overarching reputation of bribery and corruption.
To Mr. Infantino and the soccer federations, however, perhaps the influx of money will (again) be enough to quell legitimate concerns of dedicated fans around the world of lessening the competitiveness and difficulty of simply qualifying for the golden opportunity of competing on soccer’s grandest stage.
The future of 48 teams in a World Cup is set to become reality. It’s happening (insert groans here). And those who will argue that this addition of a dozen teams will be superior to the current model with 32 teams were also likely arguing for the Microsoft Zune over the Apple iPod way back when…
On that note: Do you own a Zune? Just because something is new doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. There can be unforeseen (and very easily seen) malfunctions that occur with its users.
Lucky for me, my aforementioned malfunction was a solitary bad pass. FIFA’s malfunctions will have much more serious, enduring consequences.
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