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As I mentioned last week, I’m switching things around. HOWEVAH, before I do that, I need to catch up on the pics that you all have posted.
Therefore, today’s Sexy Friday features 25 (not 11) pics that you have posted in the last few weeks.
On to Balls’ Thoughts O’ Da Week!
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Balls’ Book Corner
I’m not as avid a reader as many of you are. Honestly, I don’t have the time. However, I like to pick up a new book from time to time that you all have recommended to see if it strikes my fancy.
Recently, King Hippo posted about the “Fractured Europe” series by Dave Hutchinson. It’s a series set in a not-so distant future where a global pandemic from China (talk about great timing!) has ravaged the world, nationalism and regionalism have taken over, and the European Union and indeed entire countries have been broken up into many tiny states or “polities” as they are described in the books.
I saw that the first book, “Europe in Autumn”, was on sale in paperback on Amazon for $12 so I decided, fuck it, let’s see how it is.
I read it in two days. And that was only because the fucker is 425 pages long and I had other shit to do. If I had started in the morning, I might have finished it in one day.
Hutchinson does a great job of world-building, using the present (the book was written in 2017) and the past to frame a future that makes sense if the dominoes fall a certain way. There are major sci-fi elements to the story but it’s grounded enough in a plausible reality that you don’t necessarily find yourself going, “Oh fuck you!”
The writing keeps you on your toes as Hutchinson does not follow a traditional story-telling technique. There are flashbacks and when one chapter ends and you think the next chapter will follow the action, it ends up going in a completely different direction. However, the threads are well-tied together so you are able to follow what is happening.
The thing that I enjoyed most about the book is that it is accessible and challenging at the same time. You have to keep track of characters and actions but you get the satisfaction of seeing how they all fit in the more you read. There is a little bit of suspension of disbelief that you need to have (due to the sci-fi element) but I think it’s a credit to the writer that it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. He knows human nature well and all the characters’ reactions and motivations are perfectly rational.
Perhaps the best thing I liked about the book is that Hutchinson doesn’t reveal everything. It’s very similar to real life in that we never truly know the whole story of anything. We piece together what we can out of the information we are given and then react to it. He allows the reader to fill in the blanks and ride along with the protagonist in figuring out exactly what the hell is going on with him.
The ending shocked me because it’s not really an ending, more of a beginning. Hutchinson clearly meant this to be a series from the start. In fact, the paperback I bought has a couple of chapters of the next book in the series in it.
The next book is “Europe at Midnight” and I will be buying it from Amazon for $12 on paperback, which I guess is the highest form of praise I can give this book.
If you like sci-fi deeply grounded in reality and a read that flies by while at the same time making you use your brain, this is the book for you. I’ll let you know how the next one goes when I finish it…
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Recommended Viewing
For those of you that read our English Premier League preview and were wondering, like me, what the hell a Crystal Palace is, watch the video below:
Joolz is another great Youtuber that I like. His videos are informative and interesting and he takes you places you might otherwise not go to.
The Crystal Palace video is a great example as I’ve been to London many times and never thought about going to Crystal Palace or seeing that area. Having seen the video makes me interested in, if I’m lucky enough to go back, checking it out for myself.
I highly recommend a subscription to his YouTube channel if you do that sort of thing. He’s great!
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La Liga Update
For some anglo-centric and biased reason (certainly not food-based!), the DFOers love themselves some English Premier League. I, contrarian that I am, am much more interested in La Liga, Spain’s top league. Yes, I have my own biases on this, but this was the league of Messi and Ronaldo and some of the best teams of the last two decades.
Well, Messi is now in Paris, Ronaldo is still in Turin, and the humongous amount of money that ESPN paid to get the US rights to La Liga away from BeIn Sports and to ESPN+ seems to have been wasted.
HOWEVAH, I beg to differ. La Liga started last weekend, just like the EPL, and I watched several of the games. Here are some notes:
- Barcelona will be just fine without Messi. Heck, they may actually be better.
- Real Madrid is still Real Madrid. Bale and Hazard are now the backbone of the team, as weird as that may sound.
- Atlético Madrid look good to defend their championship.
- There were a lot of red cards given out. Valencia-Getafe and Celta-Atlético both ended 10 against 10. Rayo Vallecano and Villarreal also ended up with 10 against Sevilla and Granada, respectively.
- Everyone else is pretty even and any team can beat any other team on any given week.
Now, I ask you, doesn’t that an exciting league make? La LIga is shown on ESPN+ in the States and on BeIn Sports in Canada. Over the course of the season, I’ll provide updates and let you know of any matches that would be good for you to watch.
This weekend’s Match To Watch is Barcelona visiting Athletic Bilbao at 1:00 PM Pacific on Saturday. Barcelona traditionally struggles at the San Mamés, so it will be a close and exciting match. As I’ve mentioned before, San Mamés is an absolutely gorgeous stadium and y’all should go to a game there if you have the opportunity.
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For those of you prudes that don’t like cheesecake or beefcake, click HERE to skip to the music videos.
Here are your pictures of the week.
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YOU’RE-A-PRUDE
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And now, for the music!
As I mentioned before, I’ve decided that I must take up the mantle that tWBS ran with and help to make this world a better place. I will do this in the one way he couldn’t: By introducing you to good music!
Today we are back to the puzzles! As always, I will give up to three hints in the comments at your request. You try to determine the hidden theme or link between all the songs. Good luck!
Song Number One:
Canción Número Dos:
Chanson Numéro Trois:
Canzone numero quattro:
Canção número cinco
Seigarren zenbakia:
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That’s all for this week, folks! Be good to each other and fly low and avoid the radar.
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