Home Run

There are several promising young Japanese internationals playing in European leagues this year, one of them being 21-year old Shinji Kagawa. He has been impressing in his first term with Borussia Dortmund and this morning, he had another fine run out. Not only did he score two goals in the Bundesliga's biggest derby, Dortmund v. Schalke 04, but he pulled a "Babe Ruth" by predicting the brace. Sure, he said his two would be the only goals in the match but how many professional athletes say they're going to put up certain stats and actually do just that? (And at one point is was actually 2-0 on the count of his goals.) The score ended up being 3-1 as Schalke got played off the pitch. There lone goal came late in the game due to some lazy Dortmund defending, but other than that, Schalke got dominated.

Schalke 04 have their own young Japanese player as well, 22-year old Atusto Uchida. It would have been nice to see Kagawa go head-to-head against his Japan teammate but Uchida was out with a broken toe. He's had a decent start to the season as well but maybe not as strong as Kagawa's. While it would have been fun to watch them play against each other, I doubt Uchida would have helped Schalke much as he is more of an attacking defender than a ball-stopper.

One final thing about Kagawa: I can't help but think he could have made a difference in South Africa. Not only do I think he should have been there but I think he should have started in a second-striker's role. How could manager Takeshi Okada leave a player like him at home? Don't get me wrong, Okada did a great job at the World Cup (much better than I expected) and Japan did extremely well. But they were missing the offensive creativity to complement their hard work and defensive discipline. And when Japan went out on penalties after drawing 0-0 with Paraguay, it's hard not feeling like Shinji could have done something...

Anyway, It's good to see Kagawa, Uchida and other Japanese players like CSKA Moscow's Keisuke Honda and Cesena's Yuto Nagatomo succeed in Europe, so let's hope their good seasons continue... And along the same lines, I hope to see other Japanese footballers in Europe, like Wolfsburg's Makoto Hasebe, Catania's Takayuki Morimoto, and Leicester City's Yuki Abe get more playing time.

Now I'm Just Big, Ya Dig?

More Big Boi, this time with Vonnegutt on Letterman. A couple notes...

- First off, the hat. Pitchfork liked it and I have to admit, it's pretty awesome. Because of André 3000's eccentricities, people seem to forget that Big Boi is pretty wild in his own right... Also, that DF chain is dope, probably about as classy as bling gets.

- The rapper in Vonnegutt looks like Lance Bass or some other blonde dude. The other guy looks like every other frontman in the past few years. In doing some research, I discovered that Vonnegutt worked on some Purple Ribbon and Dungeon Family stuff, so they've been with Big for a while now. That's pretty cool but it's a little odd because they seem kind of run-of-the-mill. I downloaded a free EP of theirs so I'll see if they show more of their stuff on their own material than they did on the comps and features I've heard.

Up And Down, Round And Round, Super Mario!!!

This reminds me of when I used to play Katamari and I'd get urges to run over things so they would stick to my car... Hopefully, cyclists don't start throwing turtle shells at each other.

Side note: Talk about a non-news story! I mean it's really cool and all, but is there nothing else going on in Portland? I guess the local news is weird everywhere...

Power

So there's been a lot of hype leading up to the unveiling of Kanye West's video painting for "Power". It started with his mountain-top performance at the BET Awards show (which was pretty awesome actually), and continued with his SingFest 2010 performance and yesterday's "Power" BTS clip. It seems like everything Kanye does is an event these days.

Put On

Japanese youngster Rio Miyaichi, currently on trial at Arsenal, just turned out an impressive performance as The Gunners beat Boreham Wood, 3-0. Apparently, he has an upcoming trial at Ajax and is now attracting attention from other big clubs, as well. I don't know much about this kid but I would love to see a Japanese international suit up and succeed at Arsenal. Who's to say that he'll be able to break through and excel in Europe (or in Japan, for that matter) but I say if the potential is there, sign him, Wenger!

This video is the only thing I've seen of Miyaichi. Even though he's probably playing against weak competition, he looks good on the ball and appears more than willing to take on defenders down the wings and through the middle. His running style, speed and dribbling skills remind me a bit of C. Ronaldo. I'd be more than happy if his finishing matches Ronaldo's as well, but let's hope that the comparisons end there. We could do without him taking on Ronaldo's divier, whinier characteristics and his tendency to not show up for big games.

Forget Teasin'

Mayer Hawthorne's "Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'"

There's nothing thaaat special about this but single shot videos are still cool. And so are cute ladies in retro-ish bathing suits. The lead dancer is a hottie.

Yeah Ya Know

T.I.'s "Yeah Ya Know" is going to be released on the Takers Soundtrack, as well as his forthcoming album, King Uncaged. Judging by the video and the cast, I'm not expecting a whole lot out of the movie, but I am really looking forward to the album. I don't see anyone topping Big Boi's latest for best of the year in hip hop, but I'm hoping T.I. (and possibly Kanye and KiD CuDi) give it a run for its money.

Mad World

Good news: Season Four of Mad Men is almost here.

Bad news: I have less time than I thought to rewatch Season Three.

From Sepinwall at Hitfix.

West Savannah Man

Yikes, Big Boi's "General Patton" is so, so ill. Damn, this boy can rap. Hard.

And in related good news, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty finally has a release date. July 6th! July 6th!

Come Original

Adidas Originals teamed up with a bunch of celebrities to remake the cantina scene from Star Wars, as a World Cup viewing party. I think they should take it one step further and just re-film the entire Star Wars series with Snoop Dogg in place of whiney Luke Skywalker. That would be awesome.

Georgia

Cee-Lo Green's "Georgia" is on point. Gnarls Barkley was great and all, but Lo is the man regardless.

Whoa!

Only a day after I noticed a crack in my iPhone screen, I came upon this bit of rubbish. What the hell AT&T? Thankfully, I can supposedly carry over my old plan when I get a new iPhone, which is awesome because I'm going to need one...

I Never Let You Down

T.I.'s F*ck A Mixtape is out now. It's his first release since he got home and some of it is pretty damn good. Download it.

I'm Purty Clever

In high school, I loved Mo Thugs' "Ghetto Cowboy". I wouldn't say it's aged particularly well, but it's still pretty great. It's just so corny, it's good. The video takes the ghetto cowboy theme and runs with it, but what's most amazing is the censorship in this version. It cuts out "shoot", "barrel of fire", "robbin'" and "life", which by my estimation, makes it the cleanest clean edit in the history of song.

Two Times, Two Times

With the World Cup just around the corner, it's international friendlies week in world football. Yesterday and today, I watched the US fringe players put in a lackluster performance against the Czech, and caught bits and pieces of France v. Costa Rica. One game I wish I would have watched because of its Arsenal ties, was The Netherlands taking on Mexico. The Dutch won 2-1, behind Robin van Persie's brace. Man U's latest addition nabbed the lone Mexican goal.

Check out RvP's two goals. He had some decent deliveries to set up both shots, but the second one is truly a thing of beauty. It's nice to see him settling in after coming back from his long-term injury. I know it's a big "if", but if Robin van Persie could just stay healthy for a full season, I really believe he could be considered a top, top class player, right alongside the Messis, Ronaldos and Rooneys of the world. I know that's a bold statement but the man is as gifted as he is injury-prone.

Tip On In

Janelle Monáe's "Tightrope", featuring Big Boi, has to be one of my favorite songs of 2010. Both artists bring their A-games here, rolling out their lyrics over a spastic, horn-and-handclap-driven beat to perfect effect. I'd even venture to say that Monáe outshines Leftfoot with her last verse. It's crazy. And the video doesn't disappoint either. It's fun and weird, and there's just something cool and hypnotic about a bunch of people in tuxes strutting and gliding.

I first heard Janelle Monáe on Big Boi's Got Purp? Vol. 2, and again on OutKast's Idlewild, where she played the typical female R&B singer role, belting out hooks and background vocals in slightly impressive but generic fashion. It's nice to see that since then, she's come into her wild and genre-bending own. She's creative and refreshing and unafraid of carving out her own path. Her Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) EP was bizarre and ambitious, introducing her audience to a world of androids, Afrofuturism and energy, but most importantly it sounded good. While I haven't fully delved into her follow-up effort, The ArchAndroid (Suites II And III)-- I'm ten tracks in and it's pretty damn solid-- it has been getting great reviews (currently sitting pretty with a 90/100 on Metacritic). I don't expect her to shatter any album sales records or anything like that, but I do hope she sees some commercial success so she can continue doing what's she's doing.

World Of Entertainment

Because everyone and their mothers (myself included) are going nuts over the new Nike ad, I decided to post the behind-the-scenes clip instead of the actual commercial. It's not overly interesting or insightful but it's worth a quick watch. I had no idea the ad was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu of Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel fame. That's kind of awesome.

The End

Now that David Villa has signed for Barcelona, everyone's attention is Cesc Fabregas and his possible move back home. I know my favorite player is destined to play for Barca again one day, but I am just hoping to put that day off for as long as possible. Before the end of this season, I thought that day was at least two, maybe three years away. Now, it seems like that day could be tomorrow.

If Cesc leaves Arsenal just when he is entering his prime, it would kill Arsenal's chances of winning a trophy next season, and it would kill me. Cesc is Arsenal, and for him to leave now... I just don't know... What I do know is that if Cesc moves before the World Cup, which I am currently greatly anticipating, it could ruin the tournament for me. Don't get me wrong, I'd still watch Fabregas and support him for both country and club-- Barcelona is actually one of my favorite teams-- but there's just no replacing him at Arsenal, no matter how they spend his transfer money. He's one of, if not the best young midfielders in the world and for him to leave the team and manager that made him into the player he is today, that would say a lot about the current state of the Gunners. Ugh, I don't want to think about it...

And not to entirely gloss over the David Villa signing, it is a great move for Barca. Villa is a perfect fit for them, and with the support of Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi, a huge upgrade over his supporting cast at Valencia, I'm guessing he'll win the Pichichi next season. Villa might be my second favorite player behind Cesc, so it hurts me to see him leave Los Che but I knew it was coming. I think I even posted about it last year, wondering whether or not I would even follow Valencia after the Davids leave. (David Silva, another favorite, is still being linked with a move to Juventus and Real Madrid. If those rumors carry any weight, I hope he goes to Juve.) So yeah, we'll see how things go in La Liga next season. Barca is a team I enjoy watching and I never had love for Valencia so much as I liked their two best players, so I'm guessing my Spanish allegiance will swing-- just don't call me a front-runner.

This isn't a great compilation, but watch David Villa do his thing:

I'll Be Home Tonight

Excellent new song and video from Kweli & Hi-Tek, with some help from Estelle. While I like a lot of Kweli's music, I think he's a little predictable and over-rated. He's just really hit or miss for me, so it's no surprise that here I think Tek's beat and Estelle's contributions easily outmatch Kweli's verses. Still good though.

From James.

High Speed

Adidas' latest promo is only partially World Cup-related, centering around the release of their newest boot in the F50 series. This commercial features three of my favorite players: Messi (the best player in the world), David Villa (my favorite striker in the world) and Zidane (arguably the best player of his generation, head-butts and all), but there's another ad that focuses our attention solely on the boot, which is just as good. While neither of these commercials quite capture the spirit of the Puma campaign, they are pretty impressive from a special effects standpoint. And if these commercials are a bit of a letdown for you, it's hard to knock Adidas when they unveiled the adizero speed boots with matching Formula 1 race cars.