Where's Freddie?

Playing repeatedly on TV these days is this really cute world cup ad for Adidas. In it, two Spanish-speaking kids in a neighborhood playground get to pick members of their dreamteam. They of course pick all the biggest names and football superstars. Michael Ballack, David Beckham, Zinédine Zidane, Kaká, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben, Juan Román Riquelme, Raúl, Alessandro Nesta and Oliver Kahn (the very definition of FIERCE bowed out gracefully when replaced recently as number one goalie for the German team by Jens Lehmann). The first version of the ad was funny enough when the two kids just picked whomever came to their mind. It was a surprise that after a few days, a new version of the ad came out where the players they picked actually appeared in their playground. And then one of the boys picked a football hero from the past (Franz Beckenbauer) which earned chuckle from the other boy, whose jaw dropped when the player also appeared in the playground. With the help of one of his teamplayers, he then picked Michel Platini to be on his side.

The official Adidas website for the ad, titled "Impossible Team", also posted high-res screen shots and behind-the-scene photos of the ad. The only complaint I have about the ad is that Freddie's nowhere to be found.

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Something fishy

© Joselito Briones

I've finally found the place to get fresh fish. It was a good thing that it's today that I walked around the area, because it turns out they only have fresh fish on Wednesdays. It's right around the corner from the Thai grocery that sells pea-sized egg plants, baby egg plants, pomelo, and sweet basil, among the numerous other food items they have in a very cramped small space.

When I was packing the food contents of our London kitchen, I made sure to at least buy and stock up on Asian canned and bottled foods because I wasn't sure if there'd by any Asian groceries here in Erlangen. After a week of walking around, I've found four such groceries so far.

Tonight we had steamed seabass in ginger, Chinese key, galangal, and chili sauce.


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And the winner is...

Several days of protests in the streets of Paris, enough embarassment for Chirac and his government, and the scrapping of the labor law that might send top heads rolling. One would say that the French youth has won yet again, and don't they have a history of winning against the government?

The one obvious winner of all this though is hottie Bruno Julliard, leader of the largest student union in France, UNEF. He's telegenic, well-mannered, and like most French youth, he seemed to always know exactly what he's talking about (I say seemed, because the show I was watching with him in it was in French). He's obviously got convincing power too, as the other members of the panel (mostly his senior) seem to stop and listen whenever he spoke. I'd almost say he'd need at least a hair stylist, but I guess his nerdy hairstyle gives him street cred.


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