American Chess Master - of New Orleans!

Meet Paul Morphy at http://www.mattfullerty.com/, the last unofficial chess world champion (1837-1884). He links Europe and America as a Creole (of French and Spanish descent) born into New Orleans wealth - which he squandered in London and Paris defeating the world's great chess masters!

To learn his story and meet his amazing opponents, from a General in the American Army to a British Shakespeare scholar, also see http://www.paulmorphychess.com/

The story of Paul Morphy is one of rise and fall, the success of a grand talent and his descent into obsession! Welcome to the precarious floating city of New Orleans!

South Beach, Miami

And then there were none - watching South beach empty and the sky open up was the way to arrive in Miami!

Chess boxing?

Only in...Germany! Who else other than our German cousins could dream up the intense spectacle of playing chess and boxing as part of the same competition? And I don't mean play a game, go home, and box the next day. No, brand new "X-treme sport" chess boxing is here, as the picture shows, and no, it's not late night TV for lonely men in tracksuits. This stuff is serious!

Here's the lowdown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_boxing

Every four-minute chess round is followed by two minutes of boxing. Kind of disorientating to say the least! I wonder which bout is more painful, the chess or the boxing.

Best of all, competitors can win by either knockout or checkmate!

Meet the new London mayor!

Dear England, did you know that your new major of London is actually American-born? So now the owner of Manchester United hails from this side of the Pond. And so does the London major!

Considered more English than most (thanks to his stuttering manner, and acting like a slightly deranged lord of the manor let loose), Boris is the pride of the conservative-friendly nut-jobs. he is also a journalist and author, formerly serving as editor of The Spectator.

But what you probably didn't know is that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, was born on 19 June 1964, in the Grand Ol' USA.

That doesn't stop him wearing the England football shirt - the away shirt that is!

Sparring Partners!

Forget chess boxing, here's the real thing. Today is the Democratic vote in North Carolina and Indiana, after which we should be able to declare a winner. Somehow I think Hillary will fight on, though. John McCain must feel a little left out. I hope so. Clearly after this epic struggle, it'd be pointless to have Bush II take the White House. Am I rooting for Clinton or Obama? Well, I'd like the fight to go on, so at least one of them gets in!

Coconut Grove, and South Beach, Miami

Just the name Coconut Grove alone made me want to visit, but this part of Miami - after a nice overground MTA rail ride - was a lovely part of the city. The long marina and lazy brought images to Scarface and Miami Vice immediately to mind!
At night the hotel strip comes alive with great drinks, music and a lot of dancing - all along about 5 blocks, or you can cross the street and hang out with the police parked on the beach while the ocean laps in and out in the bay. A cool way to spend the evening drinking overpriced cocktails and walking up and down with nothing better to do!

The morning after...

Barack Clinton / Hilary Obama!

Wouldn't this just solve the problem?

Wouldn't this just be the perfect case? Clearly in the future - with DNA and facial surgery - the fusing of two humans will be possible!

It would certainly solve the current battle, and the losing candidate wouldn't even have to endorse the winner!

Whoever loses, recommending the victor has got to be embarrassing, but somehow I think the above politician - whichever way the vote swings - will manage after all the recent campaigning and hand pressing!

Home of Snooker, Sheffield

It never ceases to amaze me, England, that the home of that gracious and genius-inspiring game, snooker, is actually a little humble theatre in Sheffield, former home of the British steel industry (remember "The Full Monty"?). Somehow this makes the whole occasion must more special, that moments of true theatre are played out in such a quietly

The funniest thing about going to see a snooker match - as I remember from seeing Peter Ebdon, Matthew Stevens, and Ronnie the Rocket about 6 years ago (although I can't remember exactly who was playing who), is the snippets of applause between the shots. The audience has to time them to perfection like at Wimbledon, so not to distract the players. But the intensity of watching these men pot these little balls on the table, and then a ripple of applause from around the arena (as though it were a child's game - thought clearly it's not easy!) is one of the strangest things. Funny, and seems to sum up the amusement of not really knowing what life is all about. Is it important the blue goes in the middle pocket to get back on the third red? Well, of course it is!

By the way, I've no idea who that bloke is in the picture. Clearly a besotted fan of snooker and not the theatre!

Oxford Cambridge Boat Race

Ah, the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, that excuse for drinking Pimms along the Thames riverbank, hanging from the outdoor pub balconies, and generally pretending to wait for the boat to appear.

Well, this year was Oxford's turn for revenge, and now they've taken 3 of the last 5 years. will this endless battle ever end? Will the rest of the world outside London and the two cities ever show any interest?

Anyway, clearly the Dark Blues are the ones to watch. If I may say so, come on Oxford!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Cambridge_boat_race

For the rowing nerds out there, Oxford took the race because they upped the rating to 36 when 2/3rds into the race, and according to the official report, "the Cambridge men had no response." for a history of this delightfully gentlemanly river bash, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Cambridge_boat_race

Nationals Park - brand new Washington baseball stadium!

So here's the new stadium for the Washington Nationals baseball team, built about as fast as the Empire State Building in New York City, and if you know your history, that's fast.

So Washington has now gone from having no baseball at all in the 1970s (the Senators left and became the Texas Rangers), to playing at RFK Stadium and sharing that stadium with DC United soccer team (the pitch/diamond literally revolves to change the sport), to having their own swanking stadium! That's not all. Now DC United wants a new stadium, presumably to be built on the same spot as RFK after it's demolished. Who doesn't want a new stadium?

Anyway, go Nationals (not Senators), and go United (DC and Manchester)!

For a history of baseball in DC, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Washington,_D.C._professional_baseball

Baseball in a glove!

Snooker v American Pool

This comparison says it all. Table bigger, pockets and balls smaller, pocket mouths narrower, and you need a one foot on the floor rule. Clearly pool is a lot of fun, but nothing beats smashing a ball full-length of a snooker table, and being amazed when it actually goes in!
Check out this great site for all the official dimensions and comparisons http://www.pooltableplans.com/pool_vs%20snooker.htm

American literature

I am teaching my first survey in American literature in the autumn of 2008, or the "fall" as I now find myself saying. I am converted! The idea of teaching American literature - the second half as it's called, so post-Civil War 1865 to 2008 amuses me. There I'll be, the Brit among the Americans, teaching them about their own literature, or trying to, making claims, tracing roots to the British literature it is entangled with, all the time knowing I am the Brit among the American believers.

No longer can I claim the authority of being a Brit teaching English ("British") Literature. No I must make claims that I am qualified - having my PhD - to teaching Americans about their own best writing! Check out my syllabus on http://www.mattfullerty.com/

Brown and Bush all jokes

What's so funny? Am I the only one who doesn't get it? Didn't Brown just get a 24 rating in the UK local elections, the worst Labour turnout since the 60s. And isn't Bush on the way out in January? Maybe he's still laughing from making it for a second term (not to mention a first term - incidentally there's a movie coming out about the ballot count of the 2000 elections with Kevin Spacey and Tom Wilkinson called Recount http://www.recountmovie.com/).

I think Bush actually has more to laugh about, if only because it's what he does best.

Cruising with Pope Benedict XVI

The Pope!
Ah, yes, the day the Pope came to Washington. He is a rock star! I thought Bush was a Born-again Christian, so did they talk doctrine all afternoon? All I know is that he was cruising down Pennsylvania Avenue, three blocks from my pad, about midday and I went up to take a quick snap, but he was already gone. Apparently he was leaving the White House to mobile-it to the Vatican Embassy - presumably something on Massachusetts' Embassy Row - and I was there at 12.10 and he'd already hop-scotched it away. The music was playing from the crowds, but the Pope had left me with empty road...I looked for the clouds of glory trailing behind the bullet-proof mobile, but it was just hard tarmac. That's what you get when you miss the Pope going by. Wonder how I'll explain that one at the Pearly Gates!

Capital Rowing Club

Check out my new rowing club, Capital!

The club shares a boathouse - the trusty Anacostia Community Boathouse - with other clubs, but this doesn't stop any of the fun. Rowing is every night Monday to Thursday which makes it really flexible, but I can't help thinking that my Oxford days were far more competitive. There are regattas that I'm looking forward to, but it's a bit confusing to have the people in the boat change, and your own position in the boat change, every time. I miss knowing where I sit! That's the price, I guess, for trundling down to the boathouse only when you feel like it...anyway, I ordered my T-shirt so I gotta keep rowing!


Last night I had to cox for the first time, though, which was a minor disaster. I make three errors, all of which I excuse for my novice status. It's hard enough to steer and put your arm in the air to tell the coaches you can hear them. Anyway, I had to steer around a battleship and go through a bridge, but I swung close to the ship, then crossed the river, basically not hearing the coach properly. Then we did an "all 8" only to snag some guy's fishing line from the bank quite spectacularly, dragging it maybe 100 feet, until he was calling out. I could see it stretched out, very thin and green-looking, along the river, and it must have snapped and flung back or something. Anyway, the next moment we're off and I was supposed to overtake the boat in front - a dawdling 4 - riverside, but it swung out and I decided to undercut it (rather than swing further into the river). My mistake. The 4 should have stayed close to the bank, but with him edging in the river, and with the bridge coming up, we had to "way enough" or "easy oar" as I would say, confusing anybody.

So what happened? well, they had to swap me out of the boat. Kind of humiliating! But they put me in as a rower for compensation I guess, but on the other side. I've never rowed starboard before! (bow side). As you can see, all the rowing terms are different between the UK and US as well, and that doesn't help. suffice to say, I took it easy (universal term) rowing strangely with my right arm, and made it back. I just wanna row stroke-side!


Anyway, it doesn't always look like this, but when you cruise steady after a tough piece of rowing, and the boat sits up, it can feel like this.

Where was that picture taken anyway, the Amazon?

Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final!

Meet Ronnie "the Rocket" O' Sullivan, America. Ronnie is the current World Snooker Champion as of last weekend, the May bank holiday in England. After sweeping the former 6-times champion, ol' moody Scot Stephen Hendry aside in one of the biggest routings of Hendry's highly successful career, Ronnie went on to win the final against Ali Carter 18-8 to take his third World Championship crown in Sheffield.

Snooker is noticeably absent in America, where pool is king. No doubt there is something old-fashioned about the game, but this is its glory. The modern game no longer takes endless days and literally hundreds of "frames" (individual games) to play. But it does take long sessions that are no doubt to an American sensibility and need for speed! It's a bit like the cricket to America's baseball, although arguably snooker is a game of genius, where pool is game of fast wrist-snapping talent - the way it's played in the States at least. In the old days (the 70s!), snooker was a gentleman's game played by thugs, while the modern game is so fast with so many breaks it's more a thug's game played by clean-cut gents. But back in the days of Alex "Hurricane Higgins" things were different...America, you need to check out the big daddy of all pool games, the vast green baize of the snooker table!

Typewriter!

Dear England, I just love old typewriters! I can't explain why. Something about the old-style need to hammer the keys.

We are so luck today with our PC, and the keys of laptops which just seem to get softer all the time.

Something about the above pic just makes me want to be a newspaperman of the old skool. Go out and find William Randolph Hearst. But then again, don't you have to catch the tape and isn't that just like the annoying toner AND tape changing of modern laser printers!

I take it back, I love old typewriters!

Miami baby!