gambitch - now available in blue

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

A new SARS case has sparked numerous reactions. Expect related measures to be put in place at all major functions, starting today.

In other news, Cuddly Pete has jumped ship to Chelski. I'm not too happy over this, even though it's been a while since we exorcized the ghost of Martin Edwards. At least the club wasn't sold.

gambitch [ 12:58 PM]

Monday, September 08, 2003

(missing in action)

So I have just done the unthinkable.

Pulled the plug, cut the umbilical cord, turned my back on the people who I was entrusted to take care of until a better Moses came along.

And so I have left. And so they have not bothered. Except for an e-mail screaming at me for procedural impropriety and undermining the authority of some person I didn't name as the Moses. I would probably have screamed back at him - the cheek! - but what's the point? Why stir up new quarrels over something so insignificant as my departure?

I'm a nobody. Let it stay that way. Unless you really want to know why. Or unless you really want me to do something about that.

So I have forsaken my place in "the profession". Big deal. You've obviously gotten over it. You've picked your new leader. Made your choice. With narry a whimper, narry a word.

Who gives a damn, anyway?

(mere models)

I was invited to this production by my friend, who's a law student. Given that I haven't watched a production all year, I figured I should give this one a watch. Besides, as my friend reminded me, it's for charity.

Of course it didn't hurt that there were a number of cute-looking people, both male and female, in the show!

The show was nice, really, and for a bunch of students who had to go through their classes like everyone else to come up with a full-scale musical production must be some challenge. I thought the characters could have done with a bit more fleshing out, and you could tell not everyone was a natural singer (if you define singing as more than just being able to hit the high C...). But cut them some slack; these are law students, not full-time theatre practitioners who had forever to come up with a solid production for public consumption.

It was nice knowing that Adolf has been doing well since I last met him, like, over 10 years ago. Definitely his theatre career has been going on the up, though in much smaller steps than some of my other friends. Then again, he's a lawyer-to-be. Poised to be successful. I wish him luck. Never mind that he probably can't remember me - our acquaintance never got the time to develop into a proper friendship anyway, but I'm not too worried about that.

I definitely felt for Clarice in the show. Being the nice sister, doing Cissy's hair and otherwise generally putting up with her sibling's inflated petulance, having to suppress her envy and pretending to be fully dedicated to her work playing the supporting role in Cissy's career and Philippe's stable. And quietly being infatuated with Stefan (the dumb bloke) before finally realizing she did like Colin (lucky chap - quiet perseverance does pay after all). A wry reminder of a few things, to be sure, but obviously that's coincidence. But that's theatre for you - it can create unexpected resonances echoing what's going on in real life. That's the charm of theatre.

For the most part I thought the plot could have done with more. It all seemed a little simplistic - man runs underground fashion movement, woman (fairly obviously man's friend once upon a time) takes up job enforcing the law and cracking down on it, man believes that woman has a suppressed inside crying for its own liberation, woman breaks down and suppressed side surfaces, woman joins fashion show, banned show gets to go on as if nothing happened. I would have liked an extra twist at the end, but I suppose that would have been too obvious and perhaps a shade melodramatic. And after all the soppy melodramas we've been drip-fed on on the goggle box, that's probably not on.

Still, I liked the show. And I got myself a production T-shirt!

(Reichen and Chip)

So the big surprise - Reichen and Chip won The Amazing Race 4.

David and Jeff seriously blew it by rushing over to Sydney rather than waiting to check out the options, and that got them stranded while the other two teams jetted off to Tokyo and then Hawaii. After securing such a big lead for themselves over the past two legs, this was obviously going to be quite a blow for the two guys, who I suppose relaxed a bit too much. Penalty of following the greedy algorithm.

Of course it was nice seeing Kelly and Jon try their best to fight tooth and nail with Reichen and Chip, but really, the result was decided the moment the men got the exact address to the USS Arizona anchor. You can say that's a stroke of luck the two had, but this game show is all about luck and everything else. You can't deny the benefits that luck can sometimes produce.

On reflection, it really didn't matter that Reichen and Chip were gay, or that they were married to each other. These two people had the resilience of typical alpha males, and from that perspective fully deserved the win. It would have been nice if Kelly and Jon, David and Jeff or Jon and Al had won it, but Reichen and Chip did show they had the nails when it mattered.

The word was that the two have since split up. Big pity, but they're not the first team to split up after the race, and perhaps the money had nothing to do with it. I'm not going to pretend to be nice and offer to say that they'll find better partners in future, because I don't know them well enough for them to care about well-wishes from complete strangers.

Anyone ready for TAR5?

(United)

So they sold Veron after all. And the new season has begun in earnest. That is good.

I'm not saying that selling Veron was the brightest move United have made. Personally I do think that his loss is going to be hard to replace when it comes to Europe. United bought Veron to produce the goods in the Champions' League, and in fairness, he did deliver enough to justify that purpose. He just had a really hard time in England, where the English game just stifled him and killed the space he needed to flourish.

But in fairness, Sir Alex has seldom got it wrong when it came to big transfers out of the club. Selling Ince, Sparky and Kanchelskis was a hugely misunderstood decision when he did it, but the team did manage to grow thereafter. And of the three, while Kan-Kan has since faded into obscurity and the Guv'nor has drawn some stick - some of it self-inflicted - Sparky Hughes definitely has remained a true Red over the years, and his success as Wales manager cannot be denied.

Seba Veron can grow at Chelsea, especially since Ranieri has very different philosophies from Sir Alex, but he's done some good stuff for United while he was here. He hasn't been a monster hit, but he wasn't a total dud.

Meanwhile, it's nice to hear that Cristiano Ronaldo is fitting well into the club. Maybe he's going to enjoy the same kind of success Ole had, rising from "one for the future" to abruptly become a star supersub. Ole has since moved up to become a real first-team contender, and perhaps that will be a sign of things to come for Ronny.

Losing to Southampton isn't the most wonderful result after three good wins on the trot, but the Saints have been more resilient than past results (two wins out of two at St. Mary's) would suggest. We lost to a single goal by Beattie in the late stage of the game, and that's not too bad actually, considering we were missing so many people. Scholesy was pulled out because of the hernia (see Sven? we're not bluffing), Rio had a kidney complaint (which doesn't bode well - it's not a muscle problem or a broken bone after all), we're still having an extended absence from Wes, and I think Ole was out of action too. That's too many first-teamers out to be comfortable. So in context, a one-goal loss was acceptable, though unpleasant.

The good news is definitely the Champions' League draw we picked up. Glasgow Rangers, Panathinaikos and VfB Stuttgart look to be a good prospect. Qualifying for the second stage won't exactly be a cakewalk, but picking up a game against Gers should be intriguing. Rangers, for the uninitiated, are a club staffed with some of the most curious talented journeymen of European football. Their squad includes Stefan Klos (one-time second-choice goalkeeper for Germany), Ronald De Boer (the slightly less illustrious of the Dutch twins - Frank's still in Barcelona), Michael Mols (forgotten Dutch striker - then again with Ruud and Kluivert still in active service you don't really expect otherwise), Henning Berg (great defensive job he did for United and Blackburn Rovers), and in the recent past they also had Barry Ferguson, Claudio Caniggia, Lorenzo Amoruso, Arthur Numan, and other such players. Great club? Sure. Great in Scotland, but Europe?

The Greeks are definitely not to be underestimated, but we should be good enough to beat them. The real question mark is the Germany trip and the return leg. Stuttgart may not be Bayern Munich, but history has taught us that you write off the Germans at your own peril. The key to surviving the first round is in containing the Germans. Once that's done, the mission is as good as accomplished.

So is there plenty to be excited about? There sure is. If we can consistently show the resilience like we did against Newcastle (and the referee is bloody biased on that day) things will be all right. Just don't keep red-carding the Gaffer.

(last burst of fire)

On Friday night, I sat through a 11-hour election overnight. Every candidate got the grilling they promised, but at the end of the day we elected a committee that will have to pick up where the outgoing committee left off.

It has been a very good year for the guys this term, and the growth process over the years has been something to be proud of. Now the new committee just needs to keep up with what everyone before them has been doing.

A few good people unfortunately could not get elected into the new committee. Perhaps that's the way it works, because competition was very stiff. But there are a few vacancies that have not been contested, and there will be new opportunities.

It's been a good journey, this. Four years of continued giving to this bunch of guys have been worth it, every step of the way. Compared to what's gone on elsewhere, this place has been absolutely charming. Thanks a million, guys!

And yes, no more fierce 11-hour grills. You can breathe easier now. Phew!

gambitch [ 5:08 PM]