Badminton World Championships 2007
March 10, 2007As you may know, one of my passions in life is playing badminton. However, before yesterday I’d never been to see, or seen on TV, professionals playing. I watch plenty of tennis, and have visited Wimbledon many times…but not so with badminton.
Anyhow, this all changed last night. With 3 of my Broomgrove Badminton Club buddies, I travelled down to the All England Championships in Birmingham. It was an amazing evening.
To watch the best in the world at any activity is special, but in something you have a real passion for, it is incredible.
While watching these awesome athletes, I noted down a number of points that I would try to practise and develop into part of my game -
- the best players had a good rapport: they encouraged each other after points lost rather than finding fault – a whole bunch of high fives, whoo-whoos, and even the odd moment of chest pumping going on
- with the new scoring system, pairs can score a point even when their opponents are serving. However, this doesn’t seem to be as difficult to comprehend as I’d heard (even though some of the pros were standing in the wrong place for a few points and needed correcting!)
- the game is very fast and attacking. Note how far forward the receiver’s partner is in the below shot – both of them standing on the service line. This attacking/pressurising style is something I can work on for sure!
This was a classic quarter final game where the Danish players knocked out the number 2 seeds from Malaysia.
Language Planning in Catalonia
March 9, 2007Revival of the Catalan language can only add to the cultural richness of the area. Its chances of survival depend largely on -
1) whether the sizable non-Catalan speaking population can be integrated and taught the language,
2) and Spain’s maintaining its policy of acting as a multi-lingual state.
Of course, for Catalan to expand its usage outside family settings, it also needs to be viewed as a language of education, of the media and of economic opportunity.
Yesterday the Catalan regional government certainly gave the Catalans something to talk about by deciding to fund a series of blue movies. Can you see Tony proposing the same moves for the Welsh?
Noam Chomsky and Ali G interview
March 8, 2007Chomsky confronts his intellectual equal in this meeting of minds -
Quote (1)
March 8, 2007“Save your pessimism for the good times”
I found this in the shop doorway of local greengrocer. It made me laugh
Spinus erectus muscle damage
March 7, 2007Unfortunately, I have damaged the above muscles in my neck area. Dr Hugh (a housemate) has diagnosed my injury as such. Having this injury means that I cannot move my head. Not being able to move a Steve’s head has serious consequences on a Steve’s day (some good, some bad)-
- his students get a change of teacher (this was a bad consequence, BTW)
- he cannot concentrate on his reading due to vast quantities of pain killers (bad again)
- he gets pampered with deliveries of chocolate and lucuzade by Cat (getting better…)
- he gets the opportunity to create all new blog (hurrah!)
To help me through this bed-bound period, I also chose to watch one of Hugh’s ultra violent martial arts films. Ong-Bak did not disappoint. As well as being very entertaining, there was also a certain pleasure I took from watching people suffering worse neck injuries than mine!
