Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Avinash Meetoo

Is football a game anymore?

By 8 Comments

I’ve just watched my team, Liverpool, get beaten 3-0 by Manchester City. I was watching the match on Canal+ Sport and the commentators said two interesting things:

  1. Manchester City has been assembled using hundreds of million of pounds,
  2. Manchester City played very well as a team.

 

On hearing this, I realised that English football as a game is dead. Arguably, it died as a game the day Abramovich bought Chelsea. Football has become a show. And, consequently, everything is showbiz now.

I am not Steven Gerrard. But, right now, 15 minutes after the defeat, he must be wondering whether the only solution is for Liverpool to be sold to a billionaire. Maybe that’s the only rational solution. But, sincerely, I would prefer Liverpool to remain as it is. We, Liverpool supporters, are very patient. And I would like to think that we still have some love for the game…

Back to basics

By 6 Comments

Ten years ago, my dad wanted to buy an affordable compact camera and I asked him to get the Olympus Mju II as I had just read an article in a French magazine called Chasseur d’Image in which the camera had had a very positive review. He got one.

Since then, the Mju II has become a mythical camera revered by pro photographers because (i) it has a very sharp 35mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens, (ii) it has a spotmeter and (iiii) it is built like a tank. If used correctly, the Mju II has all which is required to take excellent photos (see some in the Mju II group on Flickr.)

 

Ten years later (i.e. a few days ago), he finally took the plunge and got a digital compact camera. And he did something excellent: my dad gave me his Olympus Mju II as a gift!

I kept the Mju II on a table wondering whether I should bring it back to life… and I succumbed. I am proud to say that I have now gone back to basics: I have bought a roll of Fuji ISO 200 and got a new CR-123A battery. Now that the Olympus is alive and raring to go, I’ll be taking some photos over the next few days with it. Then I’ll have the film developed. Then I’ll scan the negative and, only then, will see (and make you see) the results.

Patience is a virtue, they say. I have to say that I’m loving to be patient. Like in old times.

On being a Pirate

By 3 Comments

20090826-thepiratebay

I love The Pirate Bay, the largest BitTorrent tracker on the planet. I love BitTorrent which is a technology to make downloads as efficient as possible on the Internet. And I love when I see a few lawyers spending months of time and millions of dollars to try to close down The Pirate Bay and not succeeding.

Why I love The Pirate Bay

Some years ago, I was 100% against software, music and movie piracy because I thought that when someone downloaded something for free from the Internet, this meant that an artist somewhere was being robbed. But, now, I know that this is not true. It seems that most of the money goes to intermediaries and the artist only get a small part.

 

A lot of artists (most notably Radiohead) have decided to eliminate intermediaries and deliver their creations directly to people like us. Some make us pay on their website (e.g. Ronald Jenkees, the famous YouTube keyboard player and, yes, I bought his MP3) and some give their music for free (and bank on advertising revenue or special editions of their CDs.)

What I don’t like

There is something I don’t like though. I don’t like people downloading thousands and thousands of songs or hundred of movies but never having the time to appreciate them. Sure, the Pirate Bay allows people to discover new artists and their creations but it can also make us lose our artistic sense by blurring the distinction between quality and quantity.

I wonder whether kids should be taught how to be discerning pirates from a very young age.

What do you think?