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Clix.

Future celebrity Nathan Van Dyke reports from Hollywood, where he filmed a Subaru commercial that will air nationally:

"The commerical shoot went well. It was shot on the back lot of Warner Brothers Studios. It took two days and the majority of my time was spent eating! When I got to the set, they took me to my trailer. Thats right, I had my own trailer with my name on it. Then I went to makeup and then I sat on my ass for a good 8 hours. I returned the next day and they shot my part which took about one hour. The rest of the time I explored the lot. I played around on the ER set. Its the outdoor area with the L-train when the ambulance comes. I ran into George Clooney as well. He was very nice. He is shooting a movie called Solaris.

Our set was on a block of fake brownstone homes. The entire street looked like Chicago in the winter. It was crazy. All the snow was little bits of paper. So it will play this winter and look for me. I am the guy in the parked car who waves at the pretty girl. Thats all folks!"

Here's proof that I knew him when... a picture of us in Chicago posing with the Unabomber. Don't forget the little people, Nay Nay.

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Okay, back to soccer. Here's a coooooool flash game where you can exact your own bloody World Cup vengeance. As the USA, I was able to make quick work of South Korea, but then I had to go back to work before I could finish out the rest of the pool play.

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Calling all single Bostonians... enter this "Best Catch" contest on Boston.com! Adrienne is running the whole thing and I told her I'd spread the word. She also wanted to see something non-soccer-related on my blog.

YOU COULD WIN FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!
YOU COULD FIND TRUE LOVE!!!!!

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Take a look at these proposed plans for the next World Trade Center. Really stunning... five futuristic towers, standing even taller and looking a lot more attractive than the originals. A great idea for a memorial too: "To ensure that the memory of each and every human life lost on September 11 is kept alive into perpetuity, 2833 trees will be planted within the WTC Memorial Park's grounds, each marked with the name and photograph of these blessed souls."

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I am no longer livid, even though the U.S. was just eliminated from the World Cup. They lost 1-0 to Germany but did an excellent job of attacking persistently and giving zee Germans a run for their money. Great game all around. Lots of people thought the U.S. would get blown out but I think they played their best soccer of the tournament today. Well done lads. I think it's very possible that the rest of the world is convinced that we're contenders. 2006 will be even better.

I want South Korea to beat Spain tomorrow, because (1) they're underdogs, (2) they're real fast and fun to watch, and (3) it's cool when the host nation kicks bum bum. Whoever wins that game, I want them to destroy zee Germans. Which they will have difficulty doing. I want Senegal to beat Turkey tomorrow, because.... come on, Turkey? And Senegal is really fun to watch too, especially their striker. The winner of that game will have their hands full with Brazil next week. I'd love to see Senegal and South Korea in the finals, but I think Brazil and Germany is a lot more likely.

Hooray for the beautiful game.

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I am livid. We were set to record this morning's match between England and Brazil, which happened at 2:30. When we woke up at 5:30, expecting to watch it, it was nowhere to be found. It was still recording when we woke up, so the only thing I can think of is that either ESPN or our digital cable LIED to me by telling me that the game was on ESPN2. It was probably on ESPN.

Well, at least it wasn't the U.S.-Germany game. Now I twiddle my thumbs for a couple hours in anticipation of the most important game in the history of U.S. soccer. My prediction: 1-1, and the U.S. advances on penalty kicks.

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Robots and soccer... together at last.

Apparently some people believe that "a fully autonomous robot soccer team will outplay the human world champions by 2050." Yeah right, maybe a robot team that steps on the puny humans and has lasers and chainsaws with the biting and the metal and the hey hey...

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Not sure about my opinion on this. What's yours? I suppose I can see how this Starbucks poster could remind some people of the World Trade Center attacks... but should Starbucks have to take it down?

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A lot of the behavior of the Mexican soccer players was sickening this morning. Dives in the penalty box, hidden elbow jabs, general dirty play... and now it seems many of their fans are the same way.

"Many screamed obscenities at the 'Star Spangled Banner' — signs of resentment at a wealthier, more powerful northern neighbor that Mexicans often feel treats them with disrespect."

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CatBoxing.com. Complete with video highlights. I wish I had a digital movie camera, because Jump Street's own Lucky (left)and Ash (right) have been kicking the crap out of each other for years. Yeah they look ferocious don't they.

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Which footballer are you? I am Rivaldo, "one of the best players on the planet." Hey cool! They say it's because I'm such a nice guy... but Rivaldo's the guy who got fined by FIFA when he got hit in the thigh and fell to the ground holding his head in "pain". My least favorite World Cup moment to date.

Speaking of Rivaldo, he scored against Belgium today to help Brazil into the quarterfinals. They play England next on Friday... that will be a great match to watch. The U.S., by the way, play Germany Friday morning at 7:30 EDT.

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USA! USA! The U.S. team had a huge victory this morning, defeating Mexico 2-0. It was the American's first World Cup shutout since 1950, and the first time we have ever advanced to the quarterfinals. But it wasn't pretty; eleven total cards were given out. But as the saying goes, you can't make an omelette without elbowing people in the head. Bring on zee Germans!

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My teammates from The Game may be interested in this site. "There is a purpose to this site but I have left it down to you to find that out. It is not difficult to find clues and information if you know where to look and what you are looking for." I didn't have the patience to really give it a shot, so I remain at the "what the..." stage.

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I remember watching this in some high school science class and thinking "coool." Powers of 10 starts you at 10 million light years away from Earth and zooms in until you see a proton in a leaf. Far out, man.

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Everybody watch a lot of TV this summer/fall. My good buddy Nathan has achieved his first 15 minutes of fame, after a few years of toiling away in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles improv comedy and TV commercial tryouts. He has appeared in an Ally McBeal episode, and now he has just been cast as the lead in a national Subaru commercial which films in a couple weeks. He says it's about Subarus doing well in the snow or something like that. Keep an eye out for him; he's the one who looks like John Larroquette.

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Just now I opened a container of half-and-half, poured it into the trash, and threw the container into my cup of coffee. Apparently it is a much-needed cup of coffee.

In other news: France and Argentina, the two favorites to win the World Cup, have already been knocked out of the tournament. The U.S. play Poland Friday morning at 7:30 EDT. If we win or draw, we advance to the round of 16. If we lose, we can still advance if South Korea defeats Portugal (also Friday 7:30).

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Did you ever consider that eclipses could cause shadows to look weird? Well to the Western U.S. last night there was a partial solar eclipse, and check out how it affected some of the shadows, especially where the sunshine came through the trees.

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I'm always hesitant to use the word "ironic" lest I use it incorrectly. Is this a picture of irony?

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Metafilter is a great website. It's a lot like Fark, only more sophisticated and there tend to be more links. Here's some poop I found there (speaking of sophisticated):

Monday... what an interesting name for a company. Don't most people hate Mondays? And why does this remind me of Gabbo, Gabbo, GABBO! "Look Smithers, Gabbo is coming!"... "Um, yes sir."

Can you imagine having to write essays for the SAT? Can you imagine being the guy who has to read all the essays?

Wow this is cool... where did it come from? A REAL Transformer! Run for your lives!!!!!

Geek Check: The Philosophy of Punctuation, by some Grammar Nazi. Looks like it could be interesting, but I got sick of the article after about two sentences. I'm not a fan of writers who are hifalutin just for the purpose of being hifalutin. I mean come on, it's just punctuation. "My colleague, you might say, is a Platonist in punctuation, while I am an Aristotelian." Oh shut up.

Who can help me come up with a humorous introduction to this article?

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This is a cool idea, and very well done. Check out this One-a-Day project. Each day she takes a picture of someone she interacts with, and writes a short blurb.

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Reminder: USA vs Portugal tomorrow at 5 AM EDT. I'll be watching it.

P.S. Day 2 of my new job, and all is well. It's good and stuff.

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He may be one of the most gifted footballers on the planet, but someone needs to teach Ronaldo some manners.

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Some great games this morning. Just finished watching Germany thrash Saudi Arabia by a score of 8-0. Not only were the Saudis awful in every respect, but EVERY single German goal was one for the highlight reel. Hooray for the World Cup. In other news, Denmark defeated Uruguay 2-1 and Cameroon (pictured) tied Ireland 1-1. The Africans seem to have a style of play that really appeals to me; rather than relying on the fundamental and predictable passing and shooting techniques, they tend to rely on their individual skills more than other players. Cameroon, Nigeria, and to some extent Senegal all entertain me with some sweet one-on-one moves. But we all know there's no "I" in "TEAM". Oh well.

So I have been trying to plan my sleeping, working and soccer-watching habits and I have not come to a decision. Over the next two weeks there will be 3 or 4 games every morning between the hours of 1:30 AM and 9:30 AM. I figured out that in theory, I could keep up a strict schedule of 8 hours soccer, 8 hours work and 8 hours of sleep, were it not for (1) a big adjustment in my sleep schedule, (2) Frisbee games Tuesday and Thursday evenings, (3) the productivity of my work after 8 straight hours of soccer-watching, and (4) the fact that I am starting a brand new job Monday, and I don't want to come off as a zombie. I think I may end up choosing one game per day that I want to watch, taping it, and watching it at 5 AM before work each day. That's not too radical. I got that idea after noticing that the U.S. first plays on Wednesday at 5 AM. We'll see how that pans out.

The Celtics were knocked out of the playoffs last night, but I got sick of watching them suck anyway. This is not the month to pay attention to other sports. I am even about to elect to take a nap while the Sox play the Yankees. Wow.

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