Green Street Hooligans

Today I watched the 2005 film Green Street Hooligans starring Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam, and directed by Lexi Alexander. Elijah Wood is Matt Buckner, a journalism student at Harvard. Unfortunately, as the movie begins, we see he has just been expelled for something he didn’t even do. His wealthy roommate did. Unfortunately, Buckner takes the fall, fearing the wealth and power of his roommates family, he doesn’t even stand up for himself. He travels to England to visit his sister, whom he hasn’t seen in some time.

Upon his arrival in England, Buckner soon meets his brother-in-law’s brother, Pete Dunham (Charlie Hunnam), the leader of a group of football (soccer) hooligans cheering on West Ham United FC. The group is known as the Green Street Elite, more commonly referred to in the film as GSE. Buckner quickly becomes embroiled in the controversy and fighting you would expect from a group of hooligans.

But there is more to the Green Street Elite than simply fighting against the hooligans of the opposing football teams on match day. It is about camaraderie, standing up for your friends, and knowing that your friends will stand up for you. The hooliganism portrayed in the film seems to be at least partially realistic to British football hooliganism, as the story was written by Dougie Brimson, a former football hooligan himself who has written several books on the topic.

If you don’t enjoy violence, then this isn’t the film for you. If you have a really difficult time understand British accents, then this isn’t the film for you. But if you enjoy well-made films featuring real life struggles, then this film is simply fantastic. You wouldn’t think you could learn a lot about yourself hanging out with football hooligans, but you’d be wrong. I highly recommend you check it out.

Matt’s Rating:

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Saint Patrick's Day

Today, March 17th, is Saint Patrick’s Day. But what is Saint Patrick’s Day really about? Who was this Saint Patrick fellow any way?

In the United States, Saint Patrick’s Day is generally looked at as a day when people wear the color green and drink green beer. It is a celebration of all things green, a color long associated with Ireland. So, Saint Patrick must have been Irish, right?

Most would find that a safe assumption to make, but they would be wrong. Saint Patrick was British. Or, more accurately, Patrick was a Romano-Briton. As we’re speaking of dates long in the past, there are many things about his life that are uncertain. I will try to avoid specifics, as scholars have devoted many long hours to the subject and cannot give precise dates.

Born in the later portions of the 4th century in Roman Britain, Patrick lived at a time of drastic changes in the world. Patrick states in his Confession that he was born at Bannavem Taburniae, an otherwise unknown settlement, likely located in western Britain. His father, Calpurnius, was a Roman patrician of some standing, he was a deacon and a decurion. You might think that life would be grand for a young Roman nobleman. Unfortunately for Patrick, during his youth the Roman Empire was well on it’s way to collapse. While there is no exact defined date for the fall of the Roman Empire, it occurred at some point during the 5th Century and the problems the empire faced as a whole caused them to simply abandon Britain, with all Roman soldiers being completely withdrawn from the territory by 410.

With the soldiers gone, the small Roman settlements, such as Bannavem Taburniae made a rather inviting target to raiders. When Patrick was 16 years old, his home was attacked, and he was carried off to slavery in Ireland.

Some time later, Patrick escaped from his slavery. He returned to Britain and trained to be a priest. We do not know for certain at what point Patrick returned to Ireland, but eventually Patrick was appointed Bishop of Ireland. Rather than simply presiding over the existing Christians in Ireland, Patrick made it his life’s work to spread the Gospel among the Irish, converting many to Christianity. He reportedly used the three-leafed clover as an example to explain the doctrine of the trinity to the Irish.

While there are few firm details about Saint Patrick’s life, there are numerous legends. One such example is that Patrick drove all snakes from the island. Most of these are assuredly false, but there may be some basis to some of them. Two examples of Patrick’s writings contain basically all of the factually information we can glean about the real Saint Patrick: his Confession and his Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus.

This Saint Patrick’s Day, I fully intend to think more about the man for whom the holiday is named than about the green beer (although I might partake of some of that too). If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend you check out Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers. It is an insightful little book that provides as much fact about Saint Patrick as can be found without stuffing it up with absurd legends. It also contains the text of both of Patrick’s existing writings. If you’re looking to learn more about the real Saint Patrick, I heartily recommend you check it out.

Read more about the book at The Rabbit Room – Book Release: Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers. You can also purchase a signed copy of the book there.

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US Israel criticism ignites firestorm in Congress

AP Article – US Israel criticism ignites firestorm in Congress

So, I just read the above article. Go ahead and read it. There’s little point in reading my post here unless you have. Have you read it? Okay.

Does it make me naive or a simpleton because I believe that the Obama administration is correct in complaining about Israel’s moves in this instance? Don’t get me wrong, I believe Israel has far and away been the United States’ best ally in the Middle East. But we’ve been a far better ally to them than they have ever been to us. I think it’s about time that we address our allies in the Middle East as we would address our allies elsewhere in the world.

The situation is simply this: Israel has offered to follow the ‘roadmap to peace’ that was drawn up under the previous administration. This roadmap requires that Israel cease construction in lands gained during the 1967 Arab Israeli war. That includes East Jerusalem. Now, Israel does not strictly include East Jerusalem in the agreement. However, whether they wish to include it in the agreement or not, stopping construction there would be the easiest route to show some sort of desire for peace, wouldn’t it? And of all the times to announce further construction in East Jerusalem, upon the arrival of our Vice President, who is there to promote peace talks, is the worst possible time.

Israel was blatant in their disregard for the American approach to the peace process. And when America is their primary, sometimes sole, ally in the peace process, it stands to reason that they should show a bit more restraint. I am shocked at Israel’s error in this issue. I am even more shocked that American politicians would have the audacity to complain at the Obama administrations response to Israel’s utter lack of disregard. The United States has every right to be upset.

If the Vice President was on a trip to Mexico to promote the war against drugs, and the Mexican government announced a decision to legalize the transportation of up to 20lbs of cocaine within Mexico, don’t you think we would be upset? Do you think any senators would be complaining at the administrations obvious response?

The government of our ally has blatantly undermined our attempts. We have every right to be upset. I can think of absolutely no reason why our government shouldn’t condemn Israel’s decision. We shouldn’t simply let this blow over because it might make Iran think we would suddenly allow them to nuke Israel. Obviously we wouldn’t. If there is anyone out there who just might think otherwise, we could release a simple statement making it clear.

The United States stands firmly behind Israel’s sovereignty, and will protect it against foreign attack. However, Israel’s actions relating to construction in the territory occupied during the 1967 war undermines the peace process, and should be immediately halted. Any construction in territory which is currently being discussed as being the possible home of a future Palestinian state should be limited to repairs and the rebuilding of damaged homes. No new construction should commence until the point at which international agreements have been reached between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the United Nations.

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Stately Raven Bookstore

You may not know this… but Findlay, Ohio currently has just one bookstore. There used to be a B. Dalton in the mall, but it recently closed. The only remaining bookstore in Findlay is the Stately Raven Bookstore, an independent bookstore located in what was originally a church at 1315 N. Main Street. It’s really quite a beautiful building, and a great setting for a bookstore.

I recently redesigned their website, and it has just gone live this week. Check it out at www.statelyravenbookstore.com. Make sure you check out the events page, as they regularly hold fun and interesting events at the bookstore.

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LawandScience.com

This morning another site I have been working on lately went live at http://www.lawandscience.com/. The website is the personal and professional website of Srikumaran Melethil, PhD, JD. He is a professor in the Pharmacy College at the University of Findlay where I go to school.

I’ve spent the past several weeks working on this website with Dr. Melethil, and I will continue to work with him on expanding it in the next few weeks as well. This particular website presents me with certain challenges. Dr. Melethil is an extremely intelligent man, and honestly, a lot of the content of this website is beyond me. But then, I am not the target audience for the website, as it deals most specifically with Patent Law, Food & Drug Law, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. If you have interests in those areas, this could be a great website for you.

The website consists of the front page, an area listing Dr. Melethil’s publications (with links to files), a listing of services he offers, and the lawandscience.com blog. If you’re a student in any of those areas, keep an eye out for a new feature we are planning to add in the coming weeks – online lectures to assist in expanding your knowledge.

LawandScience.com has been added to my portfolio page, expanding it now to a rousing two websites. Hurray!

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Web Browsers…

I’ve been thinking a lot about web browsers lately. Recently a variety of lesser known browsers were in the news as a result of Microsoft’s antitrust case in Europe. I like to test my designs in a variety of browser to be sure they render correctly… I suppose it comes with the territory of designing web pages. Since I’ve been checking out so many different web browsers lately, I thought I’d go ahead and make a post about my thoughts on the different web browsers available out there today. Today? Yes, today. It’s worth pointing out that Opera 10.5 was released today.

Below you will find my ranking of browsers. I’ll explain afterwards a bit about why I ranked each one where I did.

• Google Chrome 4.0
• Opera 10.5
• Mozilla Firefox 3.6
• Apple Safari 4.0
• SeaMonkey 2.0
• Arora 0.10
• Flock 2.5
• Internet Explorer 8
• Sleipnir 2.9.3
• Avant 11.7
• Konqueror (unrated)

Clearly, I’m rating anything older than these versions as unworthy of even considering using. Why would anyone use an out of date browser? Really? You can download a modern browser quickly and easily. I highly recommend everyone do so.

On to my ranking.

Google Chrome 4.0 – It’s fast. It’s efficient. Using the WebKit browser engine, it is highly W3C standards compliant. It meets all CSS2.1 standards as well as some from the draft for CSS3. It passes the Acid3 test with a perfect score. I like it’s smooth clean look. My only complaint is that it doesn’t offer a Print Preview Button. I simply don’t understand why it doesn’t have it.

Opera 10.5 – My initial impressions are that this is a great browser. It has nearly the upside of Google Chrome. I haven’t yet noticed any issues with it’s rendering engine… it passes the Acid3 test with a perfect score. It has that Print Preview Button that I miss when using Chrome. But, unfortunately, it’s bookmarks system is kind of a pain. Maybe it just takes some getting used to. I don’t know. When I put my bookmarks on a bookmarks bar, it messes up the clean new look. I can’t seem to get easy access to a drop-down list of my bookmarks… I have to click around a little bit for it. Chrome just seems easier to navigate to me, but… like I said, it could just be because I’m used to Chrome.

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 – Where Chrome is clean, Firefox is cluttered. But at the same time, the clutter is what makes Firefox so good. It meets most W3C standards and draft standards that Chrome and Opera do, coming up with a 94/100 on the Acid3 test. But it’s real strength lies in it’s add-ons. Working in web design, I’m constantly finding myself checking my designs using add-ons such as Firebug and Page Speed.

Apple Safari 4.0 – It basically is the same as Google Chrome… except that Apple got a bit too fancy for my tastes, and it seems to slow everything down.

SeaMonkey 2.0 – Basically the same as Firefox. A branch off of the same Gecko rendering engine as Firefox, it scores nearly the same at 93/100 on the Acid3 test. I believe it can use all the same wonderful add-ons as Firefox, but I haven’t messed with it too much. It doesn’t seem to have tabs, which is a bit disappointing. I’m sure there’s a greater difference in there somewhere, but I haven’t found it yet.

Arora 0.10 – This upstart new browser looks like it could have real potential. My only complaint thus far is that the CSS3 rendering on text-shadow seems a bit off.

Flock 2.5 – Flock is an interesting little browser. It is focused on Social Networking type stuff. If that’s your thing, it could be a decent browser. Unfortunately, it is using an outdated version of Firefox’s rendering engine, and scores a mere 71/100 on the Acid3 test. It doesn’t display my CSS3 text-shadow properties at all.

Internet Explorer 8 – IE is really making strides in the last few years, but they’ve fallen too far behind the curve. They have little to no support at all for CSS3, and only have partial support of CSS2.1. How a major player in the computer industry such as Microsoft can fail to keep up with the fully adopted CSS2.1 standards, I’ll never understand. I mean, I’m shocked that they aren’t ahead of the open-source projects of WebKit and Mozilla. But they’re way behind. They score a mere 12/100 on the Acid3 test. No sign at all of my text-shadow.

Sleipnir and Avant – All the problems of IE8, but without the good parts. Avant especially annoyed me, as it automatically set itself as my default browser and changed my default search provider without asking me.

Konqueror – I hear it’s great, but the website to download it is just strange, and I didn’t feel like going to the hassle of figuring it out.

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New Content!

If you stop by my website often, you may have noticed something different today. That’s right, I finally put content on the front page and the links page. I know, it’s amazing. I figured it was about time I took those “Under Construction” notices down and put something up. It’s not like I can’t change it later. I do design websites after all.

One part of the update I’d like to point out in particular is the fine caricature you see on every page of the site aside from this blog. My good friend Aaron Philby took the time out of his busy schedule to draw that up for me, and I greatly appreciate it. He even flew all the way from San Diego to Findlay, Ohio to hand deliver it to me in person. Fantastic fellow there, right?

Check out his blog and his website. He is accepting commissions if there is some artwork you’d like done, and he also does caricatures at parties from time to time. I’m sure he’d greatly appreciate your business.

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