The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 25,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 6 Film Festivals
Exponential Book 
May 8, 2014 at 10:11 am |
Come on, Massimo! The World Cup is but a month away. Let’s see a new post!
May 9, 2014 at 7:22 am |
Hey, listen, if you start blogging again, I do it too, how’s that? Do we have an understanding here? As for the WC 2014, look, what are the odds that Brazil loses at home for the second time? As far as I am concerned, they might as well not even bother playing it.
May 11, 2014 at 3:44 pm |
So I guess you won’t be watching it then… =)
June 14, 2014 at 8:22 am |
What time is it in Spain?
Five past Casillas.
June 14, 2014 at 8:31 am |
Awe, c’mon, don’t be so hard on them, after all they made the same mistake that Lippi made four years ago, thinking that the guys that won 4 years earlier can do it again, as if they were timeless… It must be a human thing
June 24, 2014 at 11:10 am |
In defense of Suarez, I ordered the Shoulder of Chiellini the last time I was at the Olive Garden, and it was very good. A little bruschetta, a nice sangiovese. What a meal!
June 24, 2014 at 11:57 am |
Nah, no need to make up excuses, Italy played like crap and richly deserved to go home. We have not had a single shot on goal in the last two games, come on… the sending off of Marchisio was sacrosanct, Prandelli did everything wrong.
June 24, 2014 at 7:35 pm |
That was hardly a red card. Have to feel badly for Marchisio. But you’re right – Balotelli, Motta were bad the whole tournament. Casano was horrible.
I was hoping against hope that some of the “lesser” sides might make a bit of a showing: but Cameroon was awful, Ivory Coast fractious, Japan and Korea both terrible. Looks like it’s the “big” teams once again. I’m rooting for Chile and Costa Rica, but I get the feeling this might be the year of the orange.
June 24, 2014 at 8:49 pm
Oh, please, man, that is a red card any day, any place, except in the Italian League if you play for Juventus — and that is the problem with these guys, they fail to realize that they get away with it at home for that reason and that reason alone….
It was funny, Italian commentators reacted in outrage as the ref handed Marchisio the red card, then as the evening unfolded, after the game was over, as they kept looking at it in slow motion they were going “well, OK… I can see why the ref would… yeah it kind is a red card…”… Remember that it does not matter if you actually do break his leg, it is the inherent danger of the challenge that counts.
And let us not forget the huge penalty kick not awarded to Uruguay a few minutes before the red card, when Cavani was wrestled to the ground.
Everyone is going to blame Mario now, and they guy, aside being a prick, has basically zero responsibility if not that of missing that one and only chance with Costarica. Otherwise, he kept finding himself alone, always receiving impossible passes with his back to the net and with three men on him.
I am sorry but this fiasco has Prandelli written all over, for this team, mediocre as it is, could and should have made it to the next round.
June 24, 2014 at 9:49 pm
It is a very strange world cup, greatly influenced by an outrageous initial seeding, which led to a scandalous draw.
Costa Rica may have deserved to advance, but do you realize they will be playing Greece, after yet another African team disappointed?
At this point, I am rooting for the United States.
June 25, 2014 at 1:04 pm |
C’mon, that wasn’t a red card. Players have been going cleats up all tournament. That’s the problem – no consistency in the refereeing.
Hindsight is 20/20 and this may have been impossible, but I think Balotelli should have been left off the team and Imobile played alone up front. Balotelli’s too inconsistent and too disruptive. The French left Nasri at home and it’s worked out pretty well for them.
The English commentators are putting forward the hypothesis that England and Italy basically played themselves out of the tournament by beating up on each other in that first game. There may be some truth to this, especially in the brutal conditions of Manaus. Pirlo looked fantastic in that game, and showed very little form afterwards.
June 25, 2014 at 9:31 pm
All I know is that they played a very good game against England and then some of them simply stopped playing, and that makes no sense. I really felt good after that first game.
As for Mario, I don’t know what the heck Prandelli was thinking… first of all I don’t know how you are going to leave at home Giuseppe Rossi, secondly if you are going to make the bizarre decision of playing with just one forward, you cannot possibly leave out the only guy who can receive the ball, defend possession against two, three markers every time, and go for a header in the opponent’s penalty box.
As far as I am concerned he did all that, he was the only forward who scored and created scoring opportunities for himself and others. Why is he now the escape goat, other than for the usual reason?
He made only one mistake, and that was not scoring against CostaRica. Other than that, I don’t really understand what the heck people expected of him, although it is pretty clear that no one else in that team can stomach him, according to the nonsense that they are telling the press…
June 30, 2014 at 8:42 pm |
Looks like another epic France-Germany showdown – just like in 1982 which, I’m sure you remember, was the greatest game in the history of football.
I’m a bit sad that almost all the “little” teams are out of the picture. All I can say is Go Costa Rica! Ole, ole, ole Ticos!