Tag Archives: Germany

The future of the World Cup: three burning questions

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World Cup 2014 was a great one. But what does the future hold?

russia-2018Copa Mundial 2014 was a wonderful tournament, despite the bad officiating, diving and cannibalism. We saw the emergence of new stars (what do you mean it’s pronounced “Hahm-es”?), brilliant swan songs by old stars (here’s to you Miroslav Klose), dramatic overachieving (hail Ticos!), epic flame-outs (remember back in the old days when Spain was good?), spectacular individual performances in service of doomed causes (Memo Ochoa and #thingstimhowardcouldsave come to mind) and a whole lot more. Best of all, in the end the best team won.

Now we look ahead to 2018 and beyond with a series of questions on the mind of every avid football supporter. Read more

#USMNT 0:1 Germany: Yanks back into round of 16

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It wasn’t pretty, but the Yanks advance. What next? Also, the ghost of Landon Donovan.

The US Men’s team lost to Germany today, but thanks to Portugal’s win over Ghana the Americans advance anyway. 10 stray thoughts, in no particular order.

1: The pervasive emotion is relief, not elation. Thanks to its last-minute collapse against the Portuguese this was tense until the final whistle for the US. Still, backing in is better than not getting in at all. Read more

Will Germany meet Ghana in the World Cup final? (Probably not. But I predicted it.)

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Black Stars vs. Die Mannschaft was my prediction for Brazil after Copa 2010 in South Africa, but a lot has changed.

Four years ago, in the aftermath of Spain’s World Cup win, I ventured a bold prediction for the 2014 Copa final: Germany vs. Ghana.

Making these kinds of picks that far out is always a shot in the dark – there are so incredibly many variables in the equation and a lot can happen in four years, even before you factor in the deeper arcane mysteries of the Butterfly Effect and Quantum Fuckery. Read more

Sochi opening ceremony: when Goebbels and Reifenstahl met Cirque du Soleil

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Alexander Putin may not be preparing to invade Europe, but he understands the value of spectacle in establishing a nation’s place in the world.

Sports_OlympicsThe Winter Olympics opening ceremonies in Sochi may have been the grandest show in history. It may also have been the grandest propaganda spectacle in history. It’s easy to get caught up in an artistic endeavor of that magnitude – I sat here with my jaw hanging open for a couple of hours – and the fluency with which President Putin’s creative department embedded a boldly geo-political program within some of the most breathtaking artistry we’ve ever seen. Read more

Saturday Video Roundup: Fußballmusik

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Wow – imagine my surprise at discovering that the German language has a word for music!

Ahem. As you no doubt are aware, Euro2008 crescendos tomorrow afternoon as Spain and Germany meet in the final. In honor of the summer’s premier athletic competition (well, until the Olympics start, anyway), SVR today presents the music of the four semi-final nations, along with some brief explanation as to why a nation’s music tells us a lot about their soccer teams. Read more

War and Postwar: a look at LIFE and technology

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Part three in a series.

In an age and a culture dominated by scientism, the word “sample” tends to invoke the adjectival “representative,” and I cannot begin to imagine culling a meaningful representative sample from LIFE’s 400-plus issues. Still, it seems important to devote a few pages to what happened with LIFE and technology between the Fort Peck Dam and Apollo 17. I will center this discussion on innovations and events that, from our perspective here at the end of the century, appear to have left significant marks on history.

The Medical Morality Play

LIFE’s coverage of medical technology began early and covered, through the decades, the research, development, and application of treatments for a variety of diseases and disorders afflicting humanity. Read more

Saturday Video Roundup: Europe is a dangerous place

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Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends. Or maybe it just seems that way. Today’s episode of SVR owes entirely to the mad genius of our friend Mike Smith (he of Fiction 8 infamy), who has way too much spare time on his hands. Said spare time is apparently spent scouring the frontiers of YouTube for videos that should never ever have been made. As these offerings prove, we live in a strange and dangerous world.

First, what are they putting in the water in Sweden, anyway?

Denmark isn’t safe, either. Read more