We should have made mention sooner about this digital happening but better late than never! READ Singapore whose theme for 2006 was “Looking in, Looking out” expanded into the digital realm.
Using online book chats via MSN Messenger over the web, readers were able to come together and discuss issues and topics related to the selected books - just like they would in the real world! The chats revolved round three books; Tuesdays With Morrie, Mid-Autumn (short story by Tan Hwee Hwee) & The Kite Runner.
From the transcripts the chats ranged from the mundane to the philosophical and several points in between- which sounds like a good conversation to us.
They join a select group of people who love reading but also want the experience of talking to a wider than usual group of friends. From GRITS in the USA who discuss classic and contemporary African American Literature to the Washington Post Book Club. Of course, just like in Singapore, libraries get into the act as they see the potential for reaching out beyond their walls connecting with the cyber-street conversation. Subjects can range from the socially aware to the specialist. It goes to show with all this talk about how the Internet is endangering literacy that there is a way of making the "monster" work for you. Apply a little imagination and it can turn out to be quite colourful and often cuddly. For those who wish to dig a little deeper there is a guide which argues that traditional and digital cultures do mix and provides a list of worthwhile Web and FTP sites and newsgroups.

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From Septuagint via Strine to SMS

The Bible(1) has come a long way since its first inception as a partial text in Hebrew and Greek. The translation of old and new testaments into Latin by St. Jerome gave priests control over the message. Thereafter the rise of the vernacular Bibles was slow but inevitable as the church went through ideological and popular changes.

The arrival of the King James version of the Bible in English in 1611 was based on a set of strict guidelines:

When a Word hath divers Significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most of the Ancient Fathers, being agreeable to the Propriety of the Place, and the Analogy of the Faith.

Quite .....which lead to the authorised version many Christians grew up with:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Over the years there have been countless disputes over what was recorded and how it was interpreted or translated although it seems that the early transcribers did have a sense of humour or at least a love of playing with language
Fast forward to a more recent version of the same passage:
"Out of the blue God knocked up the whole bang lot.... God said 'let's have some light' and bingo – light appeared."

What we have here is Genesis in "Strine," the Australian vernacular, from the second volume of the Aussie Bible(3) . The first volume, published in 2003, was described as a "ripping yarn about Jesus of Nazareth" in which Mary was "a pretty special sheila," and the Three Wise Men were "eggheads from out east," You have to give them some points for trying to give the Bible a little popular appeal aiming at the 91% of the Australian population regularly avoid any form of church. But perhaps the Australian Bible Society(4) is going a little far when they come up with a text-message version aimed at connected teenagers: "In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth. Da earth waz barren, wit no 4m of life; it waz unda a roaring ocean cuvred wit dRkness."

But the Bible has always been open to a few versions from (would you Adam and Eve it) the Cockney rhyming slang treatment, the 100 minute Bible(5) for those with short attention spans and, a work-in-progress, the gender-neutral bible(5) for which the lingual parameters are developing:
"Where the original cultural context shows a distinctively male activity (bowman, workman, oarsman), characteristic, or relationship, male references may be retained, but if suitable alternatives are available (such as archer, worker, rower), these are usually to be preferred."

DIRECT LINKS
(1) see "Macmillan Dictionary of the Bible" [from Xrefer Plus];
(2) "Beware of the scribes." by Rodgers, Peter R.
Source: Christian Century; 7/11/2006, Vol. 123 Issue 14, p38-39, Book Review [from EBSCOHost Academic Search]
(3) "'Strine' slang Bible a hit in secular Australia." by Squires, Nick
Source: Christian Science Monitor; 7/26/2006, Vol. 98 Issue 168, p1-4 [from EBSCOHost Academic Search]
(4) SMS Bible - http://www.biblesociety.com.au/smsbible/
(5)"100 minute Bible" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/22/nbible22.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/22/ixnewstop.html
(5) Gender-neutral Bible - "God, Gender and the Bible"Clines, D. J. A.
Source: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament; 2004 Book List, Vol. 28 Issue 5, p145; Document Type: Book Review [from EBSCOHost Academic Search]

Posted by digitalk team at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This little corner of blogdom, blogosphere, blogland or blogiverse will be talking about language and the expression of that language as literature. It mirrors NLB's Language & Literature subject area but will probably ramble off the path into areas which may seem unrelated. It might also touch on languages other than English, notably the "Singapore languages" - Chinese, Malay and Tamil connecting on the way to our heritage strands.
"The Lingo" - as those who are conversant with English as a native speaker or learner will know - is described as being colloquial, and often, derogatory, referring to:
1. A language, especially one that is not highly thought of or that is not understood.
Example: doesn't speak the lingo.
2. The specialized vocabulary used by a particular group of people or profession.
Example: medical lingo
Synonymous with: jargon, vernacular, vocabulary, argot, cant, dialect, parlance, terminology,
idiom.
But is has quite deep and venerable roots coming from 17th Century Latin lingua meaning tongue or language

So what better name for digi.talk's slightly maverick look at the world of language and literature allowing for the formal, the non-formal ...with a little room for the bizarre.

Posted by digitalk team at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For a language which has prided itself on pillaging and stealing from other languages for countless centuries it may seem strange to talk of such a thing as Standard English. The other reason this may sound a little strange to the ear is that those standards are often shifting as we speak, write and blog.

But there is an Oxford English Dictionary, now in its second edition and its one hundred and fifty-second year which periodically "allows" words into the language two of the latest being yada yada, speed dating ;numerous grammars which use a broad brush or a fine toothcomb to tease out the why, the where, the when and the what of the language; an extraordinary variety of sources on idioms, how-to-speak from every conceivable angle; and the trusty phrasebook which guides and misguides - not always related to how much you pay for it.
In the face of this daunting task the Speak Good English Movement has been going now for some six years and has the year-long duty of moving Singaporean toward speaking Standard English. This they define as "using grammatically correct English in conversations where rules for constructing sentences are adhered to." The movement is quick to point out that it is not whether or not you have an accent, but that if you have, you should aim for accurate pronunciation. There are lots of events going on in the course of the year. Kicking off in August and September there is a variety of storytelling and advice sessions as well as a debate - "This House Believes That Singapore has a Responsibility to Aid in the Development of the Least Developed Countries." which should warmi us all up nicely for the IMF/World Bank meetings in September!

Posted by digitalk team at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What is rather archaically known as "The King's English" looks to be under threat worldwide. Spanish and Mandarin are picking up pace as the must-know languages. Portuguese-speaking Brazil, with the enactment of a 2005 law now requires all high schools to offer Spanish courses as an alternative to learning English. On the other side of the world, the Chinese government projects that in the next five years, that those studying Mandarin(1) will rise to 100 million are boosting language acquisition(2). There also appears to be an emerging trend for international students are choosing to study at non-English speaking schools rather than, as previously, English schools.

In its recent "English Next" report, The British Council says that:
* the number of English speakers in the world will peak at two billion in a decade or so and then decline
* Monolingual English speakers face a bleak economic future, and the barriers preventing them from learning other languages are rising rapidly.
* The dominance of English on the internet is declining. Other languages, including lesser-used languages, are now proliferating.
* The dominance of English in offshore services (BPO) will also decline, though more slowly, as economies in other language areas outsource services. Japanese, Spanish, French and German are already growing.
* The competitive advantage which English has historically provided its acquirers (personally, organisationally, and nationally) will ebb away as English becomes a near-universal basic skill.

DIRECT LINKS
(1) "Get Ahead, Learn Mandarin"
Austin Ramzy. Time International. (Asia ed.). New York: Jun 26, 2006.Vol.167, Iss. 25; pg. 16
[http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=1072700431&Fmt=7&clientId=13402&RQT=309&VName=PQD]
(2) "New website to help the world learn Mandarin" The Guardian, July 10 2006 from Factiva
(3) The "English Next" Report - http://www.britishcouncil.org/brussels-learning-english-next.htm

Posted by digitalk team at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No one means all they say, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.
~Henry Brooks Adams, from The Education of Henry Adams, 1907

Posted by digitalk team at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The phrase "end of an era" is greatly overused but in the case of Lim Kim San it really is an understatement.
In the face of sceptics and detractors he lead the team which made possible the basic Singapore housing unit now referred to as the HDB.
There are few places in the world who can boast such a high standard of public housing as Singapore and the roots of this achievement lay in the 1960s. Much of the idealistic buildings of that era put up elsewhere have had to be torn down. Not so the HDB unit. Built on a "rough and ready" basis, the planning " team showed more enthusiasm than skill" as was said in a report at the time. But in the first two years of the accelerated program, their work resulted in over 25,000 units being built, more than the entire previous decade!
As a tribute to a a literal builder of Singapore ASK! - our cousin blog - has done a really informative piece outlining this significant Singaporean's career and achievements

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Native English speakers are always arrogant enough to play fast and loose with their own language. Yes, of course, there are standards, and they can be found in a grammar or a book such as the seemingly perrenial "Fowler's Modern English Usage." But as the saying goes: the only constancy is change and this applies in spades to any language which evolves as rapidly as English. Some languages, such as Arabic, have evolved and become split into the colloquial, the modern standard and the classical which has its complications(2). Other languages such as French have quite a rigorous style guide which you deviate from at your peril although when it comes to shampoo bottle instructions(1) it can lead to some humourous moments. English just seems to soak up influence, idioms and eccentricity day-by-day. Blogs of course have spawned a whole new reservoir of made-up language and therefore any language problems you have with this post - I attribute to speaking Blogese (or is that Bloggish).

But when it comes to learning a language - English can often bewilder and frustrate. Native speakers, can throw care to the winds but learners - if only for their teacher's sake - need to have a way of knowing when they have managed to get it right. This is further complicated by whether you are a native speaker of Chinese or German who is trying to learn English - the latter could probably guess a word coming from the same language family, whereas the former would be lost.

But we can't blame any learner for finding it difficult when faced with such curiosities as these:
- /θ/ and /ð/ (the sounds written with th), which are common in English (thin, thing, etc.; and the, this,
that, etc.);

- a learner may know a word orally but not be able to write it correctly, or they may see a word written but
not know how to pronounce it or mislearn the pronunciation. Then there is the change in sound and spelling
characterised by American English.

So the response of many learners from other languages is to have a devil-may-care attitude most ably illustrated back in 1855 by two Portuguese translators, José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino. They produced a divertingly appalling phrase book which all who have an interest in English could do well to study - entitled " English as She is Spoke" - here are some examples from their creative guide to the lingually bewildered:

Portuguese = Barriga cheia, cara alegre.
Literal Translation = A full stomach makes for a content face.
English as she is Spoke rendition = After the paunch comes the dance

Portuguese =Vamos mais depressa. Nunca vi pior besta. Não quer andar, nem para diante, nem para trás.
Literal Translation = Let's go faster. I never saw a worse animal. It doesn't want to go either forward or backward.
English as she is Spoke rendition=Go us more fast never i was seen a so much bad beast; she will not nor to bring forward neither put back.

Portuguese =A cavalo dado não se lhe olha para o dente.
Literal Translation = Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
English as she is Spoke rendition=A horse baared don't look him the tooth.

DIRECT LINKS:
(1) "How to Shampoo in French" - http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=aph&an=20179677

(2) "Difficulties Encountered by Bilingual Arab Learners in Translating Arabic 'fa' into English."
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=aph&an=20537612

Posted by digitalk team at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Cabaret" it is not!

For the last few years, NLB has been working on bringing a unique resource to these shores. Just recently unveiled, "Dance on Demand" is the result of a collaboration between NLB, the Goethe Institut, the German Dance Film Institute and Bremen University.

Having arrived all the way from Germany, this 'digital baby' was warmly welcomed by the members of the Singapore arts community who were present to witness the 'baptism' of the newborn atlibrary@esplanade on 27th July 2006.

The event was graced by dancer and dance filmmaker Heide-Marie Härtel who founded the German Dance Film Institute in 1991. Her Institute aims to archive, restore and make audiovisual recordings of contemporary dance and dancers. The archive is based on a collection of recordings from the early days of dance in Bremen and since then has been energetically gathering material from all aspects of the dance world, including dance teaching and training centres. Each year, over 40 dance events filmed by the Institute itself are added to the collection. Every two years, the Institute produces a television film, Tele-Tanzjournal (i.e. Tele-Dance Journal), in cooperation with the broadcaster 3sat and the Goethe-Institut. This acts as a review of all the dance of the preceding two years.

Dance on Demand is highly commendable as it is the world’s first digital film collection on German dance. This collaborative project combines digitally re-mastered films, photographs and textual information to create an important resource for students and practitioners while providing a rich cultural experience for anyone interested in dance or movement. Learn more about each performance piece as well as individual choreographers, dancers, and specific styles.

Note: It's only truly accessible in all its glory at library@esplanade and the Goethe Institut but discussions are continuing to offer it to a wider audience.

Posted by digitalk team at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dance is a ritual(1) - reaching out to a nature spirit, losing self in rhythmic movement alone or with others. It is an intoxicating manipulation of the body, a discipline of breath and a raising of the senses- at least that is some of the story. Through dance we can point back to the time before village, town or city, when people lived in the caves, the deserts or the forests - they all, through ritual dance, in some way took power for themselves, used that power to hynotise others and made it religious or social, underpinning their culture, forging a sort of humanity.

The world moved on to the sensuality of Egyptian dance, the gruesomely purposeful dance of Salome and the ecstatic Dionysian dances. All to a rhythm or beat accompanied by a pipe or a string. Dance was always social, the much-derided folk dance grew out of the seasons of a year and the seasons of life binding a community. People marked their year by dressing up and using tools and articles which they found around them - or they crafted for the purpose. In the course of these social moments perhaps one got drawn to a specific other and the dawn of "couple dancing" broke.
The art element, it could be argued was always there, the moves, the music and the costumes handed down but subtly altered as generation succeeded generation. Changes became innovation - although some dances became stylised - perfect execution taking the place of development, creativity and the leap to the avant-garde. But then you have the anomaly of someone like Nijinsky, classical yet rooted in the visceral - a human being tapping into the atavistic. In the Singapore context we have had Robert Wilson's La Galigo merging art-dance and traditional forms from Indonesia (2)

Fast forward and we have moved to the contemporary dance stage where curious patterns and lines are drawn by choreographers to be followed inspirationally by dancers, springing and crawling in the artificial light.
We see ourselves but not ourselves - we walk, we prance, we slide - it is the past, it is the future but we watch in the present - knowing our arms and legs perform a mundane dance of their own every day to go, to get, to go down and to climb. We empathise but cannot emulate we must let the shapes on the stage connect to our imaginings and pull them on stage like gossamer to dance with.
But lest we forget it is wholly human - yes, animals dance after a fashion and even some plants have a certain grace. But for the full range of movement it takes the coordination of body, mind and (let's call it) spirit to produce dance.

These days perhaps dance has a mundane aspect for some: the club, the salsa group, line-dancing evenings. For others it morphs into exercise with the spectrum of aerobic workouts accompanied by a pounding energising beat to drive you to the "burn."
But dance was romance only 60 years ago when people imagined themselves in the bodies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers moving effortlessly through hollywood's moonlight gardens and stages and which of us does not have a heart that beats a little faster when they see a tango dancer(3).

DIRECT LINKS:
(1) - Source Citation: Dougherty, Steve. "Moving lessons. (Julio Leitao's Batoto Yetu African dance troupe for children)." People Weekly 45.n9 (March 4, 1996): 102(4). Pop Culture Periodical Collection. Thomson Gale. National Library Board Singapore. 26 July 2006
(2) - Source Citation: James, Jamie. "Wilson on the Beach: a visionary production of an ancient epic brings the arts of Indonesia to the world.(Critic's Notebook)(I La Galigo )(Theater Review)." American Theatre 21.7 (Sept 2004): 70(3). Pop Culture Periodical Collection. Thomson Gale. National Library Board Singapore. 26 July 2006
(3) Source Citation: Pichevin, Aymeric. "Tango steps.(Global Pulse)." Billboard 118.23 (June 10, 2006): 36(1). Pop Culture Periodical Collection. Thomson Gale. National Library Board Singapore. 26 July 2006

Posted by digitalk team at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Winners!
They came in their hundreds - well to be truthful, in their tens- they dribbled around the questions, some answers going wide, some on the mark but thwarted by the keeper (i.e. the question-master) but some scored goals. However, at the end of the day, it was the golden goals that counted.

Oh dear....aren't you tired of all the football metaphors and cliches?
So this is just to say WELL DONE to the lucky winners of the digi.talk Beautiful Game quizzes who bagged the Hewlett Packard goodies from us (Thank you! HP). They look pretty happy - don't you think? The winners were: Quiz I - Mr. Raj Mohan ; Quiz II - Ms Toh Su Fern. Unfortunately for Quiz III there were no completely correct answers so there were no winners. Keep you eyes peeled for the next digi.talk brain-teasing quizzes and you too might join our winners' hall of fame!

Posted by digitalk team at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Beautiful End to the Beautiful Game

Wow… what an exhilarating end to a month long of tension, action and controversy. Please excuse me for posting this review a day too late as I was trying to recover from a World Cup final that was as thrilling as any that I can remember since 1986. And of course, I too like many others was trying to make sense of that red-card expulsion that will forever punctuate the 2006 edition.

My first thought for this column was to do a Letterman-style “Top 10” list of why Zinedine Zidane decided to head-butt the defender and I was working my way through 3 of the reasons when I stopped. I realized this was not how I wanted to remember Zidane by.

For those who know me, this would come as a major surprise because I am wholly and unabashedly anti-France. For that I have one Arse-ne Wenger to thank. I detest the hypocrisy of the moral high ground that the self-professed quack of a professor always takes, seeing only the fouls that others commit, the dives that others make and the favoritism that only others enjoy. This attitude extended to his lieutenants who go by the names of Henry, Pires, Vieira, Grimandi etc. etc. It remains one of life’s greatest mysteries that a man with no integrity can actually create a side that is one of the most fluid and exciting that has ever graced the English stage.

I wasn’t like that all my life; once upon a time, I too fell victim to the charms of a Pied Piper by the name of Michel Platini and thrilled to the swashbuckling style of play he and his three musketeers (Giresse, Tigana and Fernandez) produced. When they lost in the semi-finals in 1986, I was crushed.

The pathos is even greater when you consider that my favourite player of all time is one Eric Cantona. To me, he had everything: skills, vision, courage and more importantly soul. He was one player that marched to his own beat and surprisingly he too was anti-French.

Back to Zidane. I had admired and even liked the balding magician from afar, and truth be told, he was the only player that deserved to inherit the crown as a footballing genius after Diego Maradona abdicated the throne. All the others were just pretenders.

Thus it comes as no surprise to learn that my greatest memories of Zidane were of him in his club colours rather than in the blue of France. Of these I have three to mention: the volley for Real Madrid that won them the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen, his laser-like volley from a long raking Beckham pass that swung from right to the far left in Real’s 7-2 destruction of Valladolid and a goal during his Juventus days against Reginna when he bamboozled THREE defenders before smashing the ball with his left foot.

I suspect one of the reasons why I like Zidane was that he reminded me so much about Cantona - the statue, the skills and more importantly the temper. If you mentioned Cantona to anyone, you would inevitably hear about his kung-fu kick against a Crystal Palace fan and I think Zidane had that within him – the simmering anger that rails against all injustices big or small.

It is ironical that Zidane’s head brought victory for France against Brazil in 1998 and it was also Zidane’s head that cost France victory in 2006. This rectifies my belief that history travels in circles and that what goes around comes around.

Victory and defeat, yin and yang, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – they are all two sides of the same coin

In a way, Zidane’s final act last Monday morning was the most appropriate ending to his career – in my eyes, it was the perfect way to go. For those moralist out there who are feeling indignant reading that, just ask yourself this question: Was there ever a time when you felt you had to react in anger to something that someone said or something that someone did? I do; I feel it all the time.

On many occassions, I have had the urge to lash out at injustices, at unfair treatment but I have always been curtailed by what is perceived to be societal norms or legal civility. We are always bounded by rules and regulations that we play no part in establishing. I guarantee that every single human being has had that feeling sometime in their lives. Those who say they don't are lying.

Zidane too felt the same emotions that you and I felt, and he decided to do something about it. Was it the right thing to do? No, it wasn’t and he paid a heavy price for it. But in a perverse way, it connected me to him; it connected all of us to him. It made him human and that to me was what matters most. At the end of the day, no matter what is at stake, football is just a game. There is more to life than just that round ball.

To end, I just want to say

Thank you for all the wonderful goals you have scored

Thank you for being one of us.

Au revoir Zizou.

Posted by digitalk team at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Youth Soccer: From Science to Performance by Gareth Stratton Thomas Reilly A. Mark Williams Dave Richardson Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group Plc This book blends contemporary child-focused sports science theory with youth specific coaching practice to help create evidence soccer development strategies for children. To access this title! Click on OVERDRIVE

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... for those visiting from another planet

Just in case you are visiting from another planet or have been in a highly remote zone of said planet - this is just to tell you that there is a soccer final happening in one of the European countries this Sunday (well Monday if you are in Singapore). (If this makes you say “so what?” then tune out here...)

However if you are switched on by this piece of news, or if you live around people who are, then your life has taken on a distinctly spherical, bright-coloured dimension recently. You will also be suffering from WCF (World Cup Fatigue - those who love the Game may insert Frolic or FanFest as they will) which can be described as having three distinct phases: Pre-, Persistent and Post.
The grinding halt, or ecstatic conclusion, depending on your point of view, to the Fatigue or Frolic comes with the Final - which as you will know (or if you don’t ... you do now!) is between France and Italy.
You will also be aware that you can see it everywhere in Singapore and for those that want a “shot” at a different kind of experience then it can be seen on HD-TV. National Library has been fortunate to team up with MDA and Sony to host one of these screenings at the Plaza. The build-up starts at 11:00pm and goes on until there is a winner and a loser – in between there are a few things happening and some tasty prizes to be won. For those who don't feel like coming downtown or want to see the event in air-conditioned comfort we are offering another screening in the "heartlands" in Woodlands Regional Library starting at 2:00am Sunday.
So if you would like to be part of the special event, want a special way of heaving a sight of relief or just fancy a different kind of Sunday morning – come on down to NLB Plaza for the climax of the World Cup 2006 (and, incidentally, the last event of our "Beautiful Game" Promotion)!!

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Who's in your Dream World Cup Squad?

Full List:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Jens Lehmann (Germany), Ricardo (Portugal)

Defenders: Roberto Ayala (Argentina), John Terry (England), Lilian Thuram (France), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal)

Midfielders: Ze Roberto (Brazil), Patrick Vieira (France), Zinedine Zidane (France), Michael Ballack (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Luis Figo (Portugal), Maniche (Portugal)

Strikers: Hernan Crespo (Argentina), Thierry Henry (France), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Francesco Totti (Italy), Luca Toni (Italy)

Posted by digitalk team at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"I'm 34 and I feel like the 10-year-old boy who watched the World Cup and found it beautiful."
Man of the match, France defender Lilian Thuram after his side's victory over Portugal

Posted by digitalk team at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Substitute that never was and other sad tales of the last days....

Meanwhile the German newspaper Bild has devoted 11 pages - count them - of its 12 page sports section to the national failed heroes featuring one substantial item on "50 reasons why Germany are still the best." Is someone perhaps lacking a little self-confidence - Hmmm?

And ever hear of a bad winner? - The UK tabloid The Sun reports (could it be true?) that France boss Raymond Domenech has been reported to Fifa for a foul-mouthed rant at Portugal after beating them in the semi-finals.

On Monday morning (Singapore time) we bid a mixed emotional farewell to the FIFA World Cup 2006 ball. Maligned by goalkeepers for not being catchable, held by outfield players not to be scorable with, beloved of defenders since it when it seems on target it balloons over the bar or bends yards around the goalposts. Maybe its time to move the goalposts?

and then, perhaps, we will see more goals .....is it just us or was there a real paucity of goals during the last month's extravaganza. Back in March prior to these finals, Michel Hidalgo, the manager France during Euro 84, said "We must find ways to encourage audacious players and we must fight goalless games. It is goals that leave their mark on the memory." In the modern game we have come to expect around 2 or 3 goals per game. But on the showing of this World Cup we could end up with an average of a-goal-a-game. Soon might we be extolling the virtues of flamboyant defence and dazzling midfield, empowering the referee and linesmen to give points on the number of passes achieved in the non-scoring of goals? These will then be totted up and the match awarded by impartial judges with the occasional referral to the action replay cameras, of course.

Posted by digitalk team at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Highly Connected: A Techie's Eye View of the World Cup

When I was invited to attend the opening match of the World Cup, my friends were wondering why an IT journalist was covering a football event. What many people do not realise is that behind such a big sporting event like the Fifa World Cup is a huge cast of supporting technologies.
Every single aspect of the event has a technology angle to it. The backbone of it all is the converged Internet protocol (IP) network as mentioned in the story “Converging at the World Cup” (Page 15). Many applications ride on the network to ensure that the biggest football event on earth goes smoothly.

The converged network – combining voice and data on the same infrastructure – will connect over 70 locations including the 12 World Cup stadiums, the media centres in all stadiums and the Fifa headquarters in Berlin.
The converged network is used by journalists, stadium officials, teams, referees and organising committee officials for tasks like accreditation, logistics management for the teams, match statistics and information for Fifa worldcup.com and television broadcasters. All communications in the event is using IP (Internet protocol), making it the largest converged communication network ever built for a sporting event.
One of the most talked-about technologies used in the event is the radio frequency identification (RFID) chip-embedded ticket. Personal data of the ticket holder is encoded in the chip to identify the owner of the ticket. It is the first time that RFID chips are being embedded in the World Cup tickets, and the intention was to prevent theft and the selling of fake tickets.
Personal data has to be given in advance before football fans can get hold of a ticket.

Entering the stadium, I had to scan my ticket at the digital turnstile before entering. The personal data in the ticket was then instantly corroborated with a database over the high-speed network to ensure that the ticket had not been reported stolen or lost. But it was not cast-iron security: no one checked my identification documents to see if the data tallied with my ticket information.
Back home, technology and football continues to be intertwined. As the Singapore Pools expands its range of betting services for soccer competitions, and a growing number of overseas online betting sites emerge on the Internet, technology has been well leveraged to expand football’s reach, for better or for worse.
As I made my way to the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich for the opening match, I heard on the news that people were willing to pay up to $1,000 euro for the ticket of the opening match. It would have been good money for my $180 euro ticket, but hey, this was the experience of a lifetime.
Looking back, I’m glad I held on to my ticket. The experience was unforgettable.
At some point, technology ends and passion takes over. So, as the World Cup continues into July, and as new contenders emerge and a few favourites fall by the wayside, I will continue to root for my favourite team to win this year’s World Cup. But I bet there will be no other takers.

[digi.talk would like to thanks Kenneth Liew for this illuminating contribution]

Posted by digitalk team at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Final Countdown: Review of the action so far

I have been in mourning if you were wondering where I went...The shock of seeing first Spain and then Brazil get knocked out by an opportunistic, ageing and quite frankly has-been team is more than I can bear... Oh well, the action resumes tonight so I thought it would be a good time right now to take a look back at what has happened and what is going to happen next...

For those keeping count, I had half of my predictions correct for the second round but it was the quarters that provided all the real action. The Germans for once played to their real standard upon meeting Argentina - I mean for all the optimism and the bluster, the Blitzkrieg attack that Klinsmann has been promising didn't really materialise and that's no surprise. Had they gone all out, they would have been slaughtered by the Argies.

To me, the real crux of the game wasn't about the Germans; it was the decision to take off Hernan Crespo for Julio Cruz that doomed Jose Perkerman. I can understand the rationale for wanting a defensive midfielder to protect the lead but Cruz for Crespo made no sense. For once, it was striker-for-striker so it wasn't about protecting the lead.

Not taking away the fact that Cruz was useless like a shorter Peter Crouch, it tied Perkerman's hands for the rest of the game and that was the real damage. When the Germans equalised and Argentina needed inspiration, Perkerman could not bring on Messi and that was the real killer move.

Just one word of advice - NEVER EVER bet against the Germans when it comes to penalties. I have yet to watch them lose a shootout and that's a real scary thought.

In the same vein, just know that the English are RUBBISH at penalties. They almost, always lose at shootouts so when their match against Portugal dragged on, it was like watching the slow strangulation of a poor victim as life starts to seep out of his body. And for those who claim that Portugal were no better (struggling to break down a 10-men England team), have you not considered that perhaps they knew they would win at penalties and thus did not want to overexert themselves? Looks that way to me.... (and it surprised me not that Portugal coach Scolari is a real disciple of Sun Tzi's Art of War)

Italy versus Ukraine was a roll-over; the Italians had too much class and experience for the men in yellow.

So going into the semi-finals, it is an all European line-up once again. It is tough to guess who will make it to the final but I did predict at a talk even before the whole event started that Germany will make the semis and they would be joined by the Italians.

Another interesting thing to note is that while Italy and Germany both use a more attacking strategy, (4-3-1-2 for Italy, 4-4-2 for Germany) both France and Portugal employ only 1 striker backed with a whole bunch of attacking midfielders of which Zinedine Zidane has been the most impressive.

So which way is it going to go?

I am going to stick my head out and say that I think Italy win triumph over Germany. The Italians have been a class act and they have impressed me with their resilience and attitude since the start of the campaign.

The Germans are like a girl who has gone for plastic surgery; at the start, she looks fantastic with new body, new face, new boobs and confidence for once is overflowing. However after a while, she can't hide her personality and it will start to show. By then, that will be the moment of truth. And that will be the time that she will be exposed for who she is - a refreshing new shell hiding an old soul.

Talking about soul, it is a clash of the romantics in the other semi-finals. It is a case of the veterans versus the upstarts - the smooth and suave versus the young and the dashing. Simply put - it is Zidane versus Cristiano Ronaldo in a straight up modelling contest. Who will win more hearts? Who will sweep more ladies off their feet?
If you can answer that then you will have your finalist.

So there you have it.... my irreverant but not so useless predictions for the semi-finals. Enjoy the action and I shall see you in two days' time....

Ciao....

Posted by digitalk team at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When we look at the modern football boot all its streamlined luxurious science-based shape and sculpted art form appeal - it is hard to believe that it is a relative, albeit distant of the boot on the left. The idea was that the boots extended above the ankle, to support and give limited protection. Early forms of the game were ill defined and rough physical contact, including hard tackles, was encouraged. The boot was tightly laced with long laces, which wrapped around the ankle and often across the ball of the foot. To increase ground traction; boots incorporated studs.

In 1951, new regulations were enforced, reducing the length of the studs. These studs remained in place until 1954 when it was recognised that the pattern of studs could cause injury. Adidas were the pioneers of synthetic materials which replaced the original natural leathers. By 1954 the winners of the FIFA World Cup were wearing the new design boots with screw-in studs.

By the 1960s players had begun wearing the lower soccer shoe in preference to the traditional soccer boot probably due to the weight difference. Soccer shoe manufacturers began investing heavily in research and development leveraging on new technologies and materials to streamline the shape, introducing the concept of the fashionable boot - while not forgetting the profit motive. The 1970s brought in sponsorship by these sports goods companies and fashion took over from sense. The practical boot only came back in during the 1990s and 2000s when new "cleat" systems were devised to help distribute pressure across the boot. The use of new polymer materials further strengthened the boot .
The science of biomechanics then took a hand and this meant that more attention was given to the player and what they demanded from the boot in the course of a game. But fashion has never been far behind as the soccer shoe design moved from the changing room to the catwalk and onto the city street. What distinguishes fashion from real football boot? Colour is one of the factors as some of the sport's shoe folks offer over 30 colour variations to go with your football terrace moments as well as your clubbing nights.
DIRECT LINK
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=s3h&an=SPHS-982203

Posted by digitalk team at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)