No Goooooooooooaaaaaaal!

(Note: FIFA removed three of my videos )
First, I want to say that I know I've been gone a long time. If you really want to know where I've been, you can check out my travel blog here. I've been really freaking busy for over a year now, but I'm hoping things will settle down soon.

Now that that's out of the way, on to the post!

I'm a huge fan of soccer, and that gets me snubbed by a lot of American sports enthusiasts who think soccer is "boring." Boring?! Soccer is the sport of the world! Why is the US the only country that doesn't embrace it? This just further enhances my belief that Americans are freaks. (Note: I'm American, so I can say these things.)

Well, my inner fan has been turbo-charged this World Cup due to one factor: awesome goalkeepers. They have been rocking it out there! From Mexico's Guillermo Ochoa shutting out one opponent after another to Keylor Navas sparing Costa Rica from elimination against Greece and stopping every shot the Netherlands made during game play. From Manuel Neuer's "sweeper keeping" for Germany to Tim Howard's record-setting 16 saves in a single game for the US. This World Cup has been all about the goalkeepers. Take a look:

"Memo" Ochoa, a fortress against Brazilian strikers





Keylor Navas, savior of Costa Rica




Manuel Neuer, proving keepers can defend both in- and outside of the penalty area

Tim Howard, who was named U.S. Secretary of Defense (briefly on Wikipedia) for breaking a goalkeeping record

I almost added Sergio Romero of Argentina to this post for his great saves in the penalty kicks against the Netherlands, but I'd like to wait and see what he does in the Final match against Germany. Since I'm a fan of the German team, I hope to see more of Neuer's sweeper keeping on Sunday and less of Romero's swift saves.

Why I Love The Evil Dead (1981)

When I saw trailers for the new Evil Dead remake, my first thought was "Why? Why would anyone remake that movie when the original is such a beloved classic?" Well, to make money and to recreate a cult phenomenon with modern special effects and a much bigger budget. For the record, I have not seen the remake and I don't plan to, mainly because I'm afraid it won't have any of the following qualities that I love about the original:

***Some vague spoilers are mentioned here***

Moby Dick: The Novel That Stove My Heart

I don't usually take to works of literature that are considered "classics"--maybe because I don't like to go with the flow just because others keep telling me how great the flow is, or maybe because "classics" are what I was forced to read all throughout school until I felt like it would be worth inventing a time machine just to go back and punch Shakespeare in the nose. Whatever my reasoning may be, it wasn't until I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that I realized some books are classics because they truly speak to the innermost soul of the reader. For me, Herman Melville's Moby Dick is one of those true classics. It took me quite some time (135 chapters and an epilogue's worth of time) to decide whether I even liked the book. At the beginning, I loved it. Halfway through, I wasn't so sure, but I read on anyway and it started to grow on me. By the time I got to the end, I realized that I had become so consumed by this novel that I had to love it. But before I reached the point of discovering my true feelings, I analyzed the hell out of this novel and I feel like sharing that analysis. So if you have a lot of time on your hands, or just want to see what someone else thinks of this mind-boggling book, then sit back and enjoy.
**Spoilers abound (mainly for the very end)**

Why I Hate Alien 3

I know that a lot of people say that Alien: Resurrection ruined the Alien franchise, but I think Alien 3 killed it long before the Ripley clone had the chance. Yes, I know that I use a quote from Alien 3 on the FAQs page of my site, but the brilliance of that one line doesn't lessen my hatred for the movie. These are the reasons why I hate Alien 3: