Author Archives: Daniel (@MKNN)

WWC2019: The Quarterfinals!

{ Got ahead of myself and originally published this as the Semis. Whoops. } How We Did Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Evidently, I don’t respect Scandinavia as much as I should, as both Norway and Sweden surprised. … Continue reading

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WWC2019: The Round of 16

{ I’m writing this immediately after the Germany-Nigeria game–travel and work got in the way of getting it done before that. } Nothing too surprising coming out of the groups–sure, exactly how Scotland/ Argentina/ Nigeria/ Chile/ China would end up … Continue reading

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WWC2019: The Second Games

A note on VAR to open. I’m a fan, for sure–getting calls right strikes me as generally important–but there are two points that, I think, need to be addressed: First, if you look for a penalty, you will usually find … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan

Infinite Detail (2019) is the debut novel from Tim Maughan, a journalist of some note. It’s a good read, focusing on the relatively cataclysmic aftermath of an extended Internet outage. The setting is the near future, a world just slightly … Continue reading

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WWC2019: The First Round of Games

Notes and thoughts on the first games in each group. GENERAL NOTES I really want to highlight the difference between Argentina, Italy, and Brazil on one hand and Spain on the other. Twenty years ago, none of these countries cared … Continue reading

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WWC2019: Predictions & What-Not

Scrambling to get these out there before kickoff tomorrow. Remember, the top 2 teams from each group, plus the next 4, make the knockout rounds. It’s hard for the key match to not just always be the clash between the … Continue reading

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WWC2019: It’s Almost Time

Gosh, it feels like 1200 days since we were here last … I’m not sure what I plan to write about the World Cup about to kick off in France, but I’m sure I’ll probably match my output for WWC2015. … Continue reading

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Reading Graphically: Five Graphic Novels & One Comic

Another interlude between the novels … Paul Kirchner‘s Hieronymus & Bosch is an amusing distraction, detailing the torments of a medieval ne’er do well (Hieronymus) and his toy duck (Bosch). While some of the inspiration is obvious from the names, … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

Lisa Halliday‘s Asymmetry arrived to much acclaim in 2018. It’s a novel in three parts, really two parts and a coda. The first part details a relationship between a young woman who works at a publishing house and an older … Continue reading

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Reading Well: The Power by Naomi Alderman

Published in 2016, Naomi Alderman‘s The Power attempts to answer a fundamental what-if: what if something happened to give women a physical advantage over men? In this case, it’s a chemical added to the water supply in WWII that, over … Continue reading

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