Rocky IV in less than ten sentences

Leigh once asked me to explain Rocky IV. This is what I came up with in less than ten sentences:

Rocky is retired.
Apollo gets killed by Russian.
Rocky comes out of retirement to fight said Russian. In Moscow. On Xmas. For no money.
Rocky trains.
Rocky beats Russian.
Russian people love Rocky.

You like that? Short, concise and to the point. Just like that 89 minute masterpiece.

NOTE: This was originally posted as a comment on Theo's Gift. I was so pleased with myself, I decided to make an independent post out of it. Thanks for the inspiration, Alex!

Why would anyone do wushu?

It's a good question. Truth is, if you sat and thought about the amount of time, money and effort you have to put into wushu to become mediocre by Western standards, you would never take it up.

Of course, that's precisely why people who do wushu are some of the most interesting people you'll meet. Believe it.

Joga Bonito

With the World Cup coming up, arguably the single greatest sporting event the United States couldn't care less about, there have been a lot of advertisement campaigns. My favorite has to be Nike's "Joga Bonito". For those in the know, "Joga Bonito" is Portuguese for "play it beautifully". The campaign was originally created for Brazil, but it soon evolved into a movement within the soccer community. Wikipedia notes that

Joga Bonito promotes fair and creative play as well as honesty and team spirit. It shows the true and beautiful side of football by having a motto of "play from the heart".

The spokesperson for the campaign is Eric Cantona, widely regarded as "talismanic" in the re-establishment of Manchester United as a football powerhouse in the 90s. With that said, he seems an appropriate choice to represent "Joga Bonito". Right?

By the by, he got an eight month suspension for that.

Dwight Shrute is a Seattlite?

Let's face it--Dwight's a stud. But did you know that he's also a Seattlite? Believe it.