a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
Cruise ship season is starting up here in Seattle. We saw the Norwegian Pearl from Norwegian Cruise Lines at the pier today. She was scheduled to leave at 4 pm.
Also departing Seattle, were a line-up of yachts taking part in the Clipper Round the World race. The yachts are heading out to Panama, and will make their way up the East Coast to New York. It will take an estimated 26 days to reach Panama, and another 12 to get to New York City from there. Bon voyage!
The Masters started in Augusta, Georgia, today. Gary Player (age 82) and Jack Niklaus (78) were on hand to perform tee shots for the ceremonial opening of the tournament.
Tiger Woods (42) is attempting a comeback, but had a rough start, finishing 7 shots behind Jordan Spieth, the talented 24-yr old Texan.
Check out South African Louis Oosthuizen’s putt on the 16th. He sank a 30-footer by standing with his back to the hole, and judging the sharp break on the putting green perfectly. Big smile and a little shrug of the shoulders afterwards.
Congratulations to the US Women’s Hockey team, and the US Men’s Curling team with their gold medals, and to Norway for their record 39 medaIs, 14 gold!
I watched most of the closing ceremony tonight. I see Inmyeonjo/ 인면조 (the ‘human-faced bird’) from the closing ceremony caused a stir among Korean netizens.
Well baby, I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
– Lyrics from Hallelujah, written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album Various Positions (1984)
I loved the short pairs program of Chinese figure skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong. Their music was k.d. lang’s dreamy, languid rendition* of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, and the skaters delivered a flawless and emotional performance. Wow.
*Lang sang it at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
It was great to see the unified Korean team come into the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony. One could argue that Korea is the only divided country that remains in the world. For example, there was North and South Vietnam (united in 1975), East and West Germany (united in 1990), and South North and South Yemen (also united in 1990). And yes, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, but one cannot see it become one country again.
I read that support for Korean unification is fading, though. Some 50% of young South Koreans regard North Korea as an outright enemy, that they want nothing to do with. The harsh reality is that there is a yawning chasm between the economies of the countries. The per capita income difference between the South and North is 20 to 1. For West Germany and East Germany it was 3 to 1.
Hey! The 2018 Winter Games is underway. US figure skater the ‘quad king*’ Nathan Chen (18) made his debut on Friday in Pyeongchang, but disappointed. He failed to properly execute the quad triple toe, and fell on another jump, ending up in fourth place. ‘Was it nerves? What went wrong?’ inquired an interviewer. “I wasn’t nervous,’ Chen said. ‘I felt pretty comfortable, I was relaxed and ready to go.’ He did admit that he ‘got ahead of myself. I think I was a little too excited.’
*Chen is the first figure skater to land five quadruple lutz jumps (four rotations) in one program. These jumps take a lot of energy, physically and emotionally. Chen is also the only undefeated men’s skater in the world this season.
Philadelphians are celebrating the the streets, after their Eagles defied expectations and best the New England Patriots 41-33 in Superbowl LVII.
Eagles quarterback Nick (‘Saint Nick’) Fowles started the season as back-up quarterback for his team. He replaced regular quarterback Carson Wentz in December when Wentz tore a knee ligament.
Fowles didn’t inspire a lot of confidence at first, but played brilliantly in the post-season playoffs, and ended up being voted Most Valuable Player. Wow.
I had to take a nap this afternoon! I watched the Australian Open Men’s Final in the wee hours of Sunday morning, from 1 am to 4 am. It was totally worth it. Roger Federer won his 20th Grand Slam* championship, at 36, which is unheard of in modern men’s pro tennis. (Both numbers: the 36 and the 20).
*A Grand Slam tournament is one of the four big ones: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon or US Open.
There’s a new kid on the (Australian Open 2018 tennis) block: South Korean Hyeon Chung. Chung is 21 yrs old, and nicknamed ‘The Wall’ for his ability to return all incoming serves.
He reached the AO Men’s semi-final by beating American Tennys Sandgren on Wednesday (Australia time). In the previous round, he took out former World No 1 Novak Djokovic in a great match.
Chung and his new coach, South African Neville Godwin, will have to pull out all the stops for his next match, though : against World No 2 – and arguably the world’s greatest tennis player ever, Roger Federer.
Update Fri 1/26: Chung had to throw in the towel and retire from his match against Federer, due to a blister on his foot. He was down 1-6 , 2-5.
Pyeongchang is only 40 miles from the border with North Korea (capital: Pyongyang), and ticket sales have been slow.
Accommodation for tourists close to the sites is limited as well. On the bright side, fund raising and construction of the venues have met key milestones.
Oy vey, what a disappointment! Tuesday’s World Cup Qualifying soccer match of the USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago, ended in a 1-2 loss for the Americans.
After losses of 1-2 to Mexico and 0-
4 to Costa Rica as well, it meant that for the first time since 1986, the USA did not qualify for the World Cup. ‘You can’t get a draw, a tie, against Trinidad? You don’t deserve to go to the World Cup’, said an exasperated Taylor Twellman afterwards, in an epic rant on sports network ESPN.
Twitter (#USMNST) was set alight by soccer fans : video of chimpanzees kicking soccer balls; ‘well, they had to beat both Trinidad AND Tobago’; ‘dear Donald Trump, I’m getting tired of all the winning’; ‘On a side note, I’ve been to Trinidad and Tobago. It’s a lovely country’.
I see the Dutch team (called ‘Oranje’ for their orange jerseys) did not qualify, either. Aw.
The Argentinians came perilously close to the same fate, but they have superstar Lionel Messi, and he scored three goals in their critical match against Ecuador, securing their place in World Cup 2018.
South Africa’s ‘Bafana Bafana’ team is still in contention in Africa Group D, but will have to win both match-ups against Senegal in November.
Australia’s ‘Socceroos’ will travel to Honduras in a play-off match, in their quest for a fourth-consecutive World Cup appearance.
Knee osteoarthritis is much more prevalent today than it was just a few decades ago. A doctor on Wednesday morning’s show on CBS pointed to inactivity and obesity as the main culprits. So! Make sure to get enough exercise.
I hope in a London that had recently suffered a spate of terrorist attacks, and the terrible Grenfell fire, the tennis brought some sense of normalcy back. I sorely appreciate Roger’s grace – in his speech on the court, and in his tour of the lounge afterwards.
American football fans and other on-lookers (me) watched the Superbowl tonight. I really thought the Atlanta Falcons had it in the pocket with their 28-0 lead in the third quarter. But no! the Boston Patriots caught up with them, and with 28-28 at full time, the game went into overtime and .. the Patriots were first to score, sealing their 5th Superbowl win with a touch-down, 34-28.
Below the surface of it all churned some ugly politics. The Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reports that it all seemed like a 2016 Presidential election replay. Trump* is friends with Patriots quarterback Brady and coach Belchick. Neo-Nazis such as Richard Spencer tweeted that the ‘white team’ Patriots must win over Atlanta from the South. The carefully crafted Superbowl commercial about Adolphus Busch (German-born), coming to America to brew Budweiser beer, was seen by some right-wingers as supportive of immigration – prompting them to call for a boycott of Budweiser beer. Man. Give it a rest!
*Trump left the viewing party at Mar-a-Lago in the third quarter, apparently giving up on the Patriots .. but (of course) tweeted his congratulations after the win.
One for the recor
d books : number 18 Grand Slam championship win for Federer, 4½ years after his 2012 win at Wimbledon. A great and amazing tennis match between two great competitors!
Some tweets have a little goat icon in by Rogers’ name, since Roger is now officially the ‘G.O.A.T’, the greatest of all time, in tennis.
I’m watching tennis! Here they come : the titans of tennis, in the 2017 Australian Open Men’s Final. Roger Federer, with Rafael Nadal in tow. May the best man win!
Rodger Federer is 35, has four young children and a postoperative knee – and 17 Grand Slam singles wins. So : he is playing for gravy in the 2017 Australian Open, as the New York Times says. This year’s tournament has already seen world No 1 Andy Murray ousted, as well as 6-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic. Federer is meeting a Russia-born German called Mischa Zverev (age 29), in the quarterfinal. It was Zverev that beat Andy Murray. Go, Rodger!
I did not watch the football NFL and AFL championship games on TV this afternoon, but I see the enormous sideline coat (if one can call it that) of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was made into a meme* on Twitter. (The Patriots advanced to a record ninth Superbowl final, against the Atlanta Falcons).
*a humorous image, video, or piece of text that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users
It was a BIG weekend for the National Football League with four play-off games. Looking back, I am a little shocked to realize how much football I had watched ! Probably more than I have watched all season, yikes. The Seahawks beat the Carolina Panthers here on our home turf on Saturday to go through to next weekend, where they will meet the Greenbay Packers from Wisconsin.
