Quite a respectable showing for provincials – overtime.
Our conversations with Movement types are what you’ve read elsewhere already. No need to regurgitate except to note this week’s Scalia mocking of soccer did bolster flagging morale. There was a little more energy after that in waving off evident World Cup popularity as just typical transitory American infatuation with winning. This, too, shall pass. Plus, Scalia’s ‘Eyetalian’.
Kids and young adults are voting otherwise. Don’t tell anyone.
Landon Donovan’s miracle goal on Wednesday did far more than propel the United States to the World Cup’s knockout stage. It’s made America the No. 1 soccer video game market on the planet.
So says Electronic Arts, whose FIFA series of console games is both the biggest-selling and highest-rated sports video game in the world. Already expecting a surge of newcomer interest thanks to the World Cup Finals, the American success has Matt Bilbey, EA Sports’ vice president of football, predicting North America will overtake the United Kingdom for sales this year.
“The U.S. market was our No. 4, in the world, four years ago,” Bilbey said. “This year it will be our No. 1 market.”
Comment says
Incredibly incoherent Tweety – If you don’t support National ID, then Tweety says you’re not serious about controlling the borders – Because bartenders require ID. Never mind that bars attendance is not really about citizenship and bars can by fine with state ID.
The best way to end the National ID idea is to say you’re for it and that we should model it on Mexico’s ID program.
Comment says
re Twitter – that seems right –
Dr Leo Strauss says
re Twitter, sobering news. Per fairly large survey sample, zero (none, nada) said they would consider paying for it.
http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/survey-no-one-would-pay-twitter-19570
Comment says
Ed Schultz awkwardly throws in some red state stuff – like his love for hunting and fishing – into his show. Not sure why – Serious sportsmen do not watch those shows and pseudo sportsmen watch fox — So it just seems pointless – His show won’t last. It has no point – all of his show can be condensed on Twitter in 4 or 5 posts –
Dr Leo Strauss says
The MSNBC line-up is a wonder.
Comment says
Just watched The Ed Show for third or fourth time – Must say – it is very bad. Makes Olberman sound learned.
Comment says
This is just one example of the Hayes effect — Just as his disgrace leads to success – his lies lead to more money – This French General is punished for telling an inconvenient truth. Plus ca change – but this whole pattern of opposites seems to be getting worse:
http://www.acus.org/natosource/france-says-too-soon-talk-afghan-pullout?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Dr Leo Strauss says
Perhaps will try and catch Holbrooke later. Geithner with Gregory was soporific in his assurances that we are in technical recovery. An odd choice for point man to galvanize popular perception.
Substantively, we were struck by his relative confidence about financing the U.S. out of its cul de sac. Perhaps Beijing has told him things we haven’t heard.
On a macro level, the Administration at once promotes an eventual robust consumer led recovery (with the requisite bromides about responsible corporate investment) and at the same time says that events in 2008 permanently altered American consumer expectations and perspectives on consumption, debt and profligacy.
But no one asks what Geithner means by a return to a ‘normal, healthy economy.’ In terms of actual standards of living and disposable income, a substantial portion of Americans (and non-Germanic Europeans) have returned to about 1994-95 in many ways – whether perceived or not. In other words, the last 15 years didn’t happen.
What does a non-bubble healthy American economy look like? Bueller? Bueller?
Comment says
Hobrook sounding very much like a member of LBJ’s cabinet c.1967 on Zakaria
Comment says
Incidentally Hayes is now grey.
Comment says
Hayes is a disgrace – so perhaps he’ll do well. Now we hear Mort Zuckerman and whining about Obama supposedly trashing businessmen – That’s totally bs – Obama has been too restrained and vague in describing the massive fraudulent behavior on Wall St. etc. This is obviously a bogus complaint from Zuckerman who is pissed that commercial real estate is depressed.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment
Hayes is proof is that the greatest sin in Washington is to feel shame and stop playing the game. He’s an urchin. One day, gray and chuckling, he might be that avuncular Uncle to some vacantly smiling young teleprompter reader, who thinks she is in control by calling Hayes ‘one of her boys’. Time is on his side.
Comment says
We usually skip the Sunday shows – except Zakaria – but we tune to ABC and they have Stephen Hayes on the Roundtable after noting he is from Fox – He is still on Fox, though.
Is Hayes so respected as a liar that the Beltway mandarins feel he needs to be on two shows?
Comment says
The problem on the right with humor and desire for coolness is that they cannot scale within the ranks – Here and there they can shark up something, but it will bound to offend some. The Neediness problem is real – Newt et al – perpetually one or two disses away from personal meltdown. The only thing consistent with today’s GOPers is to be sued by musicians for stealing music.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Twitter in Japan: Finally, some payback for all the industrial hollowing out.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/twitter-ceo-celebrates-dramatic-growth-in-japan
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment
Passed link along to someone in the Fox Oberkommando der FlavoredSugarWater hierarchy. Keen interest in licensing or using this technology for The Narrative or The Plan. (The Righists’ desperation to be validated as ‘cool’ is neediness most grasping). If a clumsy copy starts showing up in that little eco-system in the medium future, don’t be surprised.
Comment says
Pretty funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWfktZQKL48&feature=player_embedded
Dr Leo Strauss says
Maybe Scalia et. al’s seige mentality is not wholly undeserved.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/sports/soccer/24soccer.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Comment says
Marty Peretz wants to bomb Iran and risk endangering American troops because he cares so much about Arab states security and their whispered requests:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-spine/76079/the-uae-knows-iran-very-well-it-does-not-believe-obama-can-stop-tehran’s-atomic
Comment says
Glad you noticed that MoDo column – we read that were gonna post it – Just like a parody of MoDo – She seems to be having some sort of mid life crisis and her columns just sort of a part of it.
Impossible to imagine anyone reading that column and being impressed with it independent of the knowledge that she is Important among Serious People.
Dr Leo Strauss says
As this is now an Open Thread by default, seems MoDo’s traditional non-sequitors reach a new high. Her friends might consider an intervention.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/opinion/07dowd.html?hp
Jaw dropping. Even for her.
Comment says
Former prosecutor Sussman seems confident – but it takes him a while to explain things simply:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/whats-next-for-conrad-black/article1616243/
Comment says
IMO – Lord Black was lucky the jurors convicted him on some of the weaker charges – Several of the jurors told reporters that they all basically felt he was guilty on every charge but that to convict him on all would send him to prison for life – an injustice. So they basically nullified some of the charges – just like inner city jurors often do. Try getting Steyn to grok that. The gov made the case very complicated and they presented the case poorly and their use of histrionics was misplaced and self defeating.
Comment says
Andy Grove suggests Tom Friedman may be wrong – Interesting article – some of it could make WSJ, FOX biz and CNBC reporters hair stand on end as if like quills on a fretful porcupine.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_28/b4186048358596.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5
Dr Leo Strauss says
Completely off topic, but Conrad Black’s comeback is well under way.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/the-rehabilitation-of-conrad-black/article1629289/
Nice to see a reporter speak for ‘the smart set’, too.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Bibi and geography:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/analysis-on-netanyahu-s-map-of-concerns-there-is-no-room-for-neighbors-1.300262
Comment says
It’s really a curiosity of our time that many here interpret Bibi’s consistent weakening of his own country as a sign of strength:
http://www.nationalpost.com/Turkey%20threatens%20ties%20with%20Israel/3236634/story.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
Yeah, within Bibi’s coalition one senses there’s relief. Giving vent to cloaked ideological spasms – and being open the Siege can be won by Will alone. Burn the boats.
If we recall how much Israel has changed the past two decades or so. Fewer traveling in their neighboring non-antagonistic Arab states let alone further afield, let alone speaking the language. More cosmopolitan Israelis in the past thought expansively about the wider region. Israeli Rightists punting on relationships like Turkey that earlier generations previously used to leap-frog and counterbalance hostile Arabs? One can only surmise that they have Wagner cued up ready to go.
Comment says
Testimony from foreign mom’s of accused spies is not always reliable:
http://www.salon.com/news/russia/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/06/30/us_russia_spy_arrests
Comment says
Klein protecting his flank:
http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/06/30/vacation-interruptus/#respond
Comment says
The story – as told now in the media and in the complaint – its oddly fantastic and empty at the same time. It’s as if they were still getting ready to start doing stuff down the road.
Comment says
One of the spy neighbors in Montclair were incredulous because the alleged spy grew excellent hydrangeas in her garden – That beats Ike’s a golfer.
Dr Leo Strauss says
It must have been quite the disappointment when Yasanevo handlers turned down their request to add HBO, Showtime and Starz to their HD value pack.
Comment says
Kagan is lucky to have a bunch of angry southerners attacking her – It’s a broad Kulturswipe against Upper West Side/Ivyism. So any real weaknesses she has will be obscured by the Sessions snarl.
Comment says
This is Gelb saying Petraeus is now intouchable – this is actually bad news for Petraeus – considering Gelb’s record. Note the total cynicism of the whole piece with it’s pretensions of GrownUP Machiavel Wiseman presumption. This whole beltway establishment is rotten.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-27/afghanistan-winners-and-losers/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC3
Comment says
Pretty funny – especially Grover’s comment:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/obamas-weekly-video-addresses-becoming-increasingl,17649/
Dr Leo Strauss says
Am off for the night to talk persistent battlefield awareness and Gumby (don’t ask, we don’t get it either). If a ‘Gumby Doctrine’ drops in a few months we can all have a chuckle. New post tomorrow.
Comment says
Not the first time espionage happened in Yonkers.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/28/russian.spying.arrests/index.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
[UPDATED] The SVR (former First Chief Directorate) continues to be extraordinarily aggressive here and has been since Yeltsin’s time. When relations are ‘not bad’ or ‘bad’ it makes no difference. For all of the Bureau’s (deserved) criticism, their CI mission is incredibly challenging – and the SVR (and GRU) for all that are only from one country. Add Beijing and then erst-while allies.
Further details will be interesting. The basic techniques and targets remain classic Russian. Penetrating congressional staff could be far more valuable useful than a narrow glimpse into a compartmentalized organization. Unless one pulls off another Ames or Hanssen. Information is far more promiscuous on the Hill – it’s the oxygen of the place. Although given what senators and congresspeople get away with now, why not just have an asset stand for election? If the SVR connection is revealed, it’s all a secular liberal plot, a book, and maybe advancement to leadership.
Away from government, if the SVR goal is to target and meet people of importance, then there are doubtlessly scores across D.C. today convinced they’ve been unknowingly targeted. After all , as they remind themselves every morning, they’re important. And one has to note this rollup validates the Bureau’s old claim to see every relationship with every person with
jaundicedsteely, patriotic scrutiny._____
Another example of the WaPo’s objective decline into bird cage lining. Their recap is wide eyed. “Illegals” are exactly what the Soviets ran for decades. Legends? Hello? Almost immediately after 1917 one might add.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062805227.html?wprss=rss_print
We agree the indictment is glaringly thin. No remotely serious compromised information or harm to national security that we’ve seen mentioned. Usually, even if it doesn’t have the goods, DoJ/the Bureau will at least go through the motions and make dark inferences.
Still, a network is a network. A reminder of the continuous scale of Russian effort here.
Comment says
Goldberg is racking up more A points today – incredible lack of self awareness is a true A-hole marker – Note his current complaint about bloggers are they unfairly tar opponents and are lacking accuracy.
Comment says
Tucker’s got some work to do as Goldberg scored many A points in the last weekend – but we have some more competition with Cavuto:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/25/neil-cavuto-called-an-ass_n_626211.html
Comment says
Peevish and fatuous – talking out his ass – complete with namedropping. A bore and a slob.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/06/an-invitation-for-glenn-greenwald/58826/
Comment says
Status anxiety at the Times means the must call some reporters “Bloggers” -as if their own ‘journalists’ are not bloggers when they blog.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/business/media/28post.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fbusiness%2Fmedia%2Findex.jsonp
Dr Leo Strauss says
One can scarcely wait for the George Clooney movie adaptation, explaining how this sorry Joanie Loves Chachi episode is actually *Important*. Land Di Caprio as Carlson and Scorcese would jump to helm.
Comment says
The whole interwebs:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/06/25/potty-training-by-judith-miller-and-sally-quinn/
Comment says
When we got Magnavox Odyssey for a gift we recall being jealous of a friend who had Intellivision. We recall those Plimpton commercials thought Plimpton himself forgot them when we met him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur3DmF29J7k
Comment says
Leo – we love your Japan related comments – We always have to google some of your references, so we learn a great deal. We intend to vist Japan sometime.
In asshole related news:http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/index.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment
Intellivision really an under rated system. Cool controllers, great color. One in a long line of subsequent mostly American what ifs. A microcosm of American innovation squandered. Millions of E.T. cartridges buried in the desert followed by industrial collapse. .
All the more bittersweet that the Japanese ran away with all post Atari suckage conquering the industry we invented. Japan had a stellar run for a good 15 years. Today Japanese pop culture and video game industry (Nintendo aside) are in such shambolic, exhuasted decline. It’s perhaps no accident Nintendo is the only company in that group that’s consistently been ‘Jobsian’ – i.e. focusing on the entire unified ecosystem ‘experience’ from hardware to software. Having Miyamoto helps, of course, but suspect even if Miyamoto could somehow stand Sony corporate b.s. (unlikely any more than Yu Suzuki could) Stringer would still find a way to screw that up.
It’s hearbreaking to read interviews from such once formerly creative dynamos like Hideki Anno proclaim the J-Pop anime, manga, toy and video game keirestu in a dead end. Akihabara is now mostly a distrubing joke. Anno’s not alone. All the news is more grim than a Chrysler Board Meeting.
The ultimate American revenge? We’ve foisted Twitter on Japan. (Thy call a tweet a ‘mumble’). And it’s a huge hit.
Comment says
Even an ass can be right time to time. That WaPo doofuss who wrote that is also an ass:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/06/post-ombudsman-thinks-dave-weigel-is-stanley-mcchrystal/58779/
Comment says
Mattel Intellivision football was pretty good.
Comment says
We missed Scalia’s comment – usually the conservatives that gripe about soccer are of certain segment.
Comment says
We were very sad at the lost to Ghana – but no doubt, it was a fair win – that goal in OT from Ghana was a great shot. We think the US did really well – many shots on goal that came close. It was just tough. The win against Algeria was awesome.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@anxiousmodernman Great point, you’re right. The sport’s fluidity makes for more fun game play.
When Trip Hawkin’s flagging 3DO struggled say circa 1994 before being crushed by PS One (and maybe Saturn), the talk was Madden’s arrival on disc was *the* showcase game. Who didn’t like hearing ‘BOOM !’ while getting carpal tunnel trying to complete a pass?
The original FIFA released at the time was so much better. For reasons you note. No one in the industry wanted to talk about soccer/football back then. And both were ported over to PS One anyway. (Although have to cop to liking 3DO Road Rash best over them all).
Americans also love spectacle best, as much if not more than winning. Who can forget all those pickup trucks with spotlights parading around the Atlanta Olympic Opening Ceremonies? Classy stuff. We’re consumed with ‘social’ networking, ‘social’ home appliances, and even ‘social’ pet collars, etc. The Cup is about the biggest social thing going.
There’s probably some Rightist anti-soccer/football direct ‘mail’ pieces out there. Favor to ask. If you find some, would you share here, please?
anxiousmodernman says
Football/soccer always translated well to playstations. The whole mechanics of the game felt “more right” than video game versions American football or basketball or baseball. It looked like soccer was being played on screen. The other sports don’t really come close to their respective realities.
I’m sure other factors are driving the sales, though. Donovan will definitely be a boost to the FIFA franchise.