Palahni-yuk?

So I finished reading my third book of the summer. I don't think I've read three books this quickly since...well, never. Granted, one of them was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (less than 2 days til the movie!!!!) because I needed a refresher, but the other two were both written by Chuck Palahniuk, my new-found favorite author...which is of course a meaningless title because I barely ever read. Nevertheless, I love his books. I love how he writes and I love what he writes about. If you didn't know, Chuck Palahniuk wrote Fight Club (now a movie starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton) and Choke (which also recently became a movie). He's also written 8 or 9 other fiction books, each one more grotesque and slightly disturbing than the next. Maybe it's because I find books and stories so boring that I like his books (even weirder is that I was excited to find out he may write a sequel to Rant. Me excited about a sequel!?). Thus far I've read Choke, about a sex-addict who purposely chokes on food in fancy restaurants for money, Pygmy, Chuck's newest book about a foreign exchange student with plans to destroy America, and Rant, a story about a man ("Rant" Casey) living in the future who is the source of a world-wide, fatal epidemic. His books are exciting, his stories are fun and different (and maybe even a little gross), and his characters develop incredibly well over the course of the book. I'm not really smart enough to give you a whole book review or analyze and critique his writing, but his writing style is definitely really cool (Yep, I described his style as cool. Clearly I read a lot of books and always paid attention in English class...). For instance, Pygmy was written entirely from Pygmy's point of view, so the entire book is written in broken and jumbled English. Rant on the other hand is written as an oral history, so the whole book is a compilation of interviews of his family, friends, and other experts. Each book offers something different and new, and Palahniuk's writing is so versatile that there's a book of his for everyone. And there's always a twist in his books...but obviously I can't tell you cuz that would ruin everything.

Rant was one of the weirdest books I've ever read, but fun nonetheless. Palahniuk's descriptions of people and places (not just in Rant, but in all his books) are so powerful and poignant that the story comes alive in my head. With that in mind, Chuck's books are also seen as disgusting by his detractors and critics. His descriptions of Rant include stories of how he can identify a person by their used condom or tampon, and how he can tell what a girl ate for dinner 2 days ago by...well, it's just not appropriate. But to me, that's what makes his stories fun, different, intriguing, and captivating. Next on my reading list is Invisible Monsters, another one of his books, and then Fight Club, seeing as it's my #1 favorite movie and I've never read the book. So I highly recommend Chuck Palahniuk if you're in the mood for a crazy and slightly disturbing story. They're fun, a pretty easy read, and it'll take you for a wild ride.

PS If you've read his books or read one in the future, let me know what you think!

The 8th Wonder of the World

Was there a more beautiful sight yesterday than that of the Astana cycling team in Southern France, pushing through an incredibly difficult Stage 4 Tour de France team time trial? Absolutely not. After a 4 year break from the Tour, the team time trial returned and did so in style, with the ultra-talented Astana team cruising to victory on a technically difficult course and setting up great suspense and drama for the next 18 days of the Tour. For those unfamiliar with the subject, the team time trial is an event in which teams (of 9 people each) race alone on a designated course. The Tour is of course a team event as well as an individual event, so this stage was a very important one. Teams usually align themselves in single-file formation--see the picture--for drafting, so only one team member is exposed to the wind, thus working significantly harder, at a time. Yesterday was unique in that the crosswinds forced teams to align in echelon-formation, a slightly diagonal line to protect themselves from wind blowing against them at an angle. The team records the time of the 5th rider to cross the finish line, thus 4 riders are "expendable" though it is unwise to lose riders--the more riders in formation, the more people rotate to spend time "pulling" against the wind, and the faster a team can go. Of course it is also unwise to slow down to wait for struggling team members, so the strategy of the event can be fairly complex.

Team Astana dominated the team time trial yesterday, easily beating the 19 other teams en route to the stage victory. A nice rivalry has formed between Astana, Team Columbia-HTC (pictured here--Mark Cavendish is wearing the Green Jersey as the best sprinter so far), and Team Garmin-Chipotle (I love the sponsored names), with Astana the only non-American team in the triumvirate (wow, that is a beautiful vocab word and I have no idea where that came from in my head) of powerful biking teams. The beauty of the team time trial though is truly astounding (insert Astana/astounding pun here). The speed and power generated by Astana was incredible, almost as breath-taking as the elegance and grace with which the Astana rode. Riders were moving at speeds approaching 40 mph...on a bike...on flat land...with a crosswind. It might be hard for non-bikers to appreciate, but it's stunning to think a "train" (as bikers say) of riders can move as fast as you drive your car, and they have to manually push against the wind. That's the power and speed of it. Then, each team member perfectly tucks behind another, all the riders cycling in rhythm with a perfect rotation (cycle, if you will) of riders going from the front to the rear of the drafting line. Graceful and elegant, indeed. And consider that all the riders are wearing almost the exact same outfit on nearly identical bikes in the sunny countryside in Southern France and the team time trial is aesthetically pleasing, to boot.

And as if that wasn't enough, the team time trial stirred up all kinds of drama in the overall standings. In stage 3, the peloton (main pack) of riders was split in two by an attack by Team Columbia in crosswinds, with Lance Armstrong making it into the front pack and most rivals stuck in the rear. Though Lance remained 40 seconds back of Fabian Cancellara for the overall lead, he leadfrogged teammates Andreas Kloden, Levi Leipheimer, and most importantly, main rival Alberto Contador (the Spanish time trial champion--he's wearing the Spanish colors in the picture) and moved from 10th place to 3rd place. The drama between Armstrong and Contador is of course well-documented, with two (or really four) viable Tour contenders on one team. [Again, for those unfamiliar, a team usually has just one leader and the other 8 riders on a team do everything the can to support that rider--pulling the wind, setting a tempo/cadence, pacing a leader uphill, and more. Thus a team with 2 leaders can be torn; even though it is early, Lance jumped over Contador instead of helping him to the front. As Lance said about himself, "I've won 7 tours, so I think I deserve some credit." And of course he does. But until his comeback, this was Contador's team and it will be a real battle between these two supposed teammates to see who emerges. Thus, the drama between them.] Anyway, with Lance behind Cancellara (the Swiss time trial champion) by 40 seconds, Astana needed to ride 40 seconds faster than Cancellara's team Saxo Bank. Turns out, after 3/4 of the course, Astana was up by 41 seconds, good enough to remarkably put Lance back in the leader's yellow jersey. Astana finished 40 seconds behind...a virtual tie between Cancellara and Armstrong. Reverting back to hundredths of a second, Cancellara retained the lead by the slimmest of margins, 0.22 seconds. So with Lance less than half a second off the lead, the tour is getting very interesting. Plus, with Lance 2nd, Contador 3rd, Leipheimer 4th, and Kloden 5th, Astana has 4 riders in the top 5...incredible. Oh, and we're headed to Lance's home away from home, the mountains. As if the tour hasn't already stirred up enough drama, Fridays HC (hors categorie, beyond category) climb to the finish in Spain will be a spectacular sight. But still not as stunning as yesterday's team time trial. You can keep up with TdF news and results here!

A Weekend of Independence

Such a cheesy title, I know. This week(end) I went down to the Jersey shore with some friends for a few days of fun and relaxation, free of parents and free of work. It felt so good just to get away for a little while and chill out under the sun and in the cool, seaweedy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Obviously, my shiny white skin got a little burnt (and a little tan too?) but hanging out was well worth it. Here's a BRIEF overview of the weekend, no need to go into such detail:

Wednesday evening, Lizzy picked me up and drove to the shore, getting there around 7:30. We drove around Ventnor/Margate, then returned to the condo and walked to Sack O' Subs for dinner. My pizza steak hit the spot...until I realized just how much I ate and quickly sunk into a food coma. We went back to the condo, turned on the TV and watched Pirates of the Caribbean. A tradition was quickly born: Rummy 500 Card Night for Lizzy and me, and the inaugural event was won by yours truly.

Thursday morning we watched Serena Williams' semifinal match at Wimbledon and strolled down to the beach. Usually I can't sit still for more than 5 minutes at the beach between the hot sun (and my pale skin) and the refreshing ocean waters, but the entire weekend I managed to just relax, apply some sunscreen, and actually read. And I hate reading. But between Rant, by Chuck Palahniuk (my absolute favorite author) and re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was set. We laid out most of the day, went to Jalapenos (a fantasticcc salad place), and came back to the beach to find our belongings nearly swallowed by high tide. We romantically walked the beach to Atlantic City (Lizzy and I have a strange habit of doing very couple-y things even though we're not dating. We went to a Coldplay concert together surrounded by couples of all ages, go to Phillies games together, went to one of those high school/middle school carnivals together and rode the gravitron by ourselves, and now our walks on the beach) and back and gathered out stuff from the beach. Returning to the condo, we took a dip in the uncomfortably warm pool, showered, and snacked while watching the Phillies game. Rummy score: Marshall 1, Lizzy 1. Lizzy's friends Eileen and Liz joined us Thursday night, and we hung out in the condo before embarking on a LATE night walk to Atlantic City. And by late, I mean we foolishly didn't leave til about midnight. I spoiled my virgin eyes by going into some casinos to use the bathroom, Lizzy almost got picked up by a super-senior citizen who thought she was a prostitute, and we didn't get back til 4am. All in all, a great day. (PS the picture is of Lizzy and her...old friend at 2am outside the casinos in AC. HAHAHA.)

Friday, we went back to the beach. Gorgeous weather, perfect beach (and pool) day. We were way too tired to go out again Friday night, so Lizzy's dad (who drove down to the shore in the morning) took us all out to dinner at Lamberti's, which was excellent Italian food, and an even nicer setting as we were outside on the bay to watch the sun set. And sadly, Lizzy claimed victory in our best-of-three Rummy night, 2-1.

Saturday was more of the same. First watched Serena beat Venus, then headed to the beach. Went in the ocean, read some more (which, again, is really weird of me), and got some color. Even though it was July 4th, the beach wasn't swarming with shore-goers, or at least not in Ventnor. We sat out for a few hours, then packed up our stuff and cleaned off at the condo. We headed home, but not after an absolutely perfectly beautiful weekend down the Jersey shore. Free of parents and free of responsibility. Happy July 4th weekend to all!

Behold the Power of Sports

There are few things in this world that successfully unify a country, and two of them occurred simultaneously on Sunday: sports and tragedy. The unifying power of tragedy is the more obvious; in times of need, a country can rally around each other to strengthen the patriotic bonds that tie this country together. Tragedy has most recently unified this country after 9/11. It was hard to go anywhere without seeing Old Glory flapping in the wind, candlelight vigils in communities around America, and chants of U.S.A. at professional sporting events from San Francisco to New York City. The competition of professional sports can be at times, quite divisive (see Yankees/Red Sox, Ohio State/Michigan, UNC/Duke, Eagles/Cowboys, etc...) but it can also be an incredibly strong means of cohesion. The Olympics are the quintessential example of this; who doesn't root for their country to win the medals race every other winter and summer? It's a matter of national pride to win the most medals or beat a rival country, and citizens quickly evolve into fans trying to push their country to the top of the sports world, literally.

So what can be said for the Confederations Cup this past week? With the United States just barely squeaking by into the semi-finals, nobody expected them to beat Spain, the world's number 1 ranked team. But they did. And people noticed. A country with fewer soccer fans than citizens of Vatican City rallied behind their soccer team and cheered them onto a 2-0 win over Spain. I can't even count the speed with which my Facebook news feed blew up with statuses about the game. And while I know I may have a few friends who watch soccer, there was certainly a discrepancy between the number of soccer-watching friends and soccer-loving statuses after the game. Not to mention soccer--soccer!?--yes soccer, was the headline on ESPN.com, a rarity indeed.

And then Sunday struck. Confederations Cup championship game, USA vs. Brazil. In just 45 minutes, the United States soccer team had millions of Americans surrounding their TV screens watching their soccer team outwit, outplay, and outlast Brazil (Yes, that's the Survivor slogan and I just felt like using it), up 2-0 at halftime. American pride oozed from homes across the country. And then tragedy (and perhaps reality) struck. Brazil struck three times in the 2nd half to take the lead, 3-2, and they held on to win the game. Yes, spirits were down, but the US soccer team had succeeded in turning a country of bystanders into a country of fans. The loss couldn't damper the American spirit and pride generated from a once meaningless game. A classic example of sports and tragedy unifying a country and regenerating pride in the US of A. And I can guarantee that one year from now back in South Africa, millions of Americans will remember the Confederations Cup, rally behind their team, and try to push them to the finals, a place they have never been before.