Here’re some incredible photos of North Korea taken by a Russian guy. Set one, two, and three. (Via.)
By the way, if you’re interested in North Korea, you’ve gotta read Guy Delisle’s graphic novel, “Pyongyang.” Delisle’s a French guy who lived in NK for a while. It’s the most illuminating thing I’ve ever read about the secretive state.
UPDATE: A recommends the book “North Korea: Another Country,” and Frans v. points out that if you’ve got 5200 bones to drop on an 11-day sojourn to North Korea, you should check this out.
Right. So the US got absolutely demolished by the Czech Republic yesterday. It was a truly depressing performance (if you’re a fan of the American side). You’ll hear all sorts of speculation out there in the media about what went wrong — that our coach screwed up, that our players underperformed, that the US team’s tactics were bad, etc. But it’s all wrong. The US lost yesterday because the Czech players were just plain better. Their players are world class. Only one or two of ours are. End of story. Full stop. Let it go and let’s move on. The better side won — and they won convincingly.
To lighten the mood a bit, then, I give you the following three images. The first two are me/soccer-related. The other has nothing to do with futbol — but it’s just plain hilarious. I was going through some old stuff of mine here at home in South Carolina and came across the following. Had to scan these bad boys in and share ‘em with you all like STAT. Click on all of these for larger views.
#1: My high school freshman year soccer portrait, age 14, circa 1989:
The haircut: just plain embarrassing. The Adidas gear: absolutely classic.
#2: My university senior year soccer portrait, age 21, circa 1996:
Yes, I was always a goalkeeper. And I still am.
#3: Get ready to laugh. This is me, as a freshman in high school, going to prom with a junior (or senior?) named Kelly. Yes, that’s her dad’s Ferrari in the background. As A noted, this pic is like something out of a John Hughes film.
This delightful image of indigenous Ecuadorian women conducting a penalty shoot-out comes from Mike F., a long-time friend of newley.com. You’ve gotta love it. Click on the photo for a bigger version.
I arrived in SC late last night. Thanks to those of you who’ve emailed me welcome back notes. Initial reactions upon re-entry into the American imperium: everyone is big, loud, and friendly.
In other news, my family got a new dog today. (Arne, the long-serving and beloved familial canine, passed away at an advanced age a few months back.) Here’re some pics of the new pooch.
Say hi to Sammy, a seven-month-old Golden Retriever. In addition to his abundant good looks, he’s incredibly even-tempered and generally low-maintenance (for a puppy). Although on the downside he slobbers a lot when he drinks and he seems to be afraid of stairs. Pics are below.
And finally: Have you been watching the World Cup, which commenced today? I have some things to say on the subject. Which I shall do in my next post.
I’m writing this from 30,000 feet in the air. Halfway between Seoul and Washington, DC. Perhaps somewhere over Alaska? Not sure. But here’s what I saw when I looked out of my window just a minute ago. Had to snap a pic of it. There’s wifi on my Korean Air flight; the connection speed is fast but it’s pricey ($10 per hour). But it’s way too cool to pass up.
I leave Bangkok late tonight for a two-week trip home to the US. I’ll be in Beaufort, SC as of late Thursday night; then it’s on to Boston/Cape Cod for a wedding. I plan to swing through DC on my way back to SC. Then it’s back here to Bangkok on June 23rd.
I still don’t have a precise itinerary, but I’m looking forward to seeing as many friends as possible on this quite brief sojourn.
For you long-haul flight junkies, here’re the dirty details: I’m flying Korean Air*** from BKK to Seoul to Dulles, where I connect to Savannah on Delta. On the way back it’s SAV to Atlanta to Seoul to BKK. The ATl to ICN leg is the longest of the bunch, lasting 14 hours and 25 minutes. Don’t worry ’bout little ole me, as in addition to a multitude of media to devour (mp3s; magazines; newspapers; both fiction and nonfiction books; an instructional Thai language book) I’ve got window seats, which are crucial for sacking out as I can lean up against the fuselage. Aisle seats, which you might think would be a logical choice for a 6’3″ guy like myself, is problematic as my size 12 1/2 U-boats are always meandering out from under the seat in front of me and getting smashed by the drink carts.
On an administrative note, newley.com has been buried under an avalanche of comment spam; I’ve disabled commenting while I try to find a solution. (Any of your gearheads out there have an suggestions for the best way to do this on WordPress?) I enjoy feedback from you, my dear readers; in the meantime, hit me up on email.
* No, I’m not flying Kazakstan Airlines, as much as I would love to support Borat‘s homeland.
** Korean Air: bring on the bibimbap, baby.
I’ve got a story in today’s IHT/Thai Day about illegal gambling surrounding the upcoming World Cup.
The first two grafs:
Sunton Tansiri represents the face of illegal football gambling in Thailand. Over coffee in his dimly-lit Ramkhamhaeng studio apartment, the 33-year-old punter explains that he and all his friends plan to wager extensively on the World Cup football games. “Everyone will bet more during the World Cup,” he says, a smile enveloping his round face. “The games will be on all the channels. Every match will be on TV every day.”
Sunton and his pals are not alone: gambling on football – what some call Thailand’s new national pastime – is about to explode with the kickoff of the World Cup on Friday. A recent ABAC poll found that over 850,000 Bangkok residents would collectively be wagering some 2.14 billion baht on the tournament. A separate Assumption University opinion survey that examined the country as a whole determined that about three million Thais planned to wager on the matches, with 14 billion baht expected to change hands.
I’ve also got another piece in today’s paper about which teams are most likely to win the World Cup. Sadly, it’s not available online, but here’s how I begin:
Just four teams have been finalists in six of the last seven World Cups: Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Argentina. Will the squad that lifts the trophy in Berlin on July 9 be among these traditional heavyweights? Or will this tournament belong to the likes of England, France, the Netherlands, or Mexico?
Which Cinderella squads will make memorable runs? Could this year’s dark-horse teams hail from the Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Ukraine, or maybe even Togo? The issue of upstart outsiders, of course, may prove moot in the end. For the emerging forecast for 2006 World Cup Germany amounts to this: world champion Brazil, a scintillating footballing machine fueled by a roster jam-packed with some of the beautiful game’s most luminous stars, may simply prove unstoppable.
In an interesting Newsweek story, Joe Cochrane describes being caught in Kabul’s recent mob uprising — and provides context for the country’s flare-ups in violence:
Even under the best circumstances, Afghanistan is a massive undertaking in nation building. It’s landlocked, surrounded by potentially hostile neighbors, has limited natural resources and has been ravaged by decades of war. The international community remains completely engaged and committed here—it has little choice given the questionable performance of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government. “There is a frustration at the lack of progress, there is a frustration that the government is not reaching out to all areas of the country,” Adrian Edwards, spokesman of the U.N. mission here, told me today. “We need to deliver quickly here. Reconstruction is slow and people don’t see the dividend of peace.”
Related: The US invasion of Afghanistan — Operation Enduring Freedom — was launched on October 7, 2001. Has it really been nearly five years? Time flies.
Related to Related: who’s the lucky SOB at the Pentagon who gets to sit around and dream up these monikers for the US’s various conflicts? You’ve got your War on Terror, naturally. And then there’s Operation Iraqi Freedom, of course. And you can’t forget about Operation Unflinching Rottweiler.
Got you on that last one, didn’t I?
Here’s an in-depth look at the practice of naming military operations.
I'm Newley Purnell, an American journalist in Bangkok. I report for Bloomberg BNA, ABC News Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and more.