Emirates Stadium - Arsenal

 Today, I visited the Emirates Stadium, the new home ground of London's Arsenal FC. Just to have a look.

Two cannon guns are placed in front of the stadium, the nickname of the Arsenal is "Gunners", because the the team started in Woolwich - where they manufacture guns. 

    Names of the team's legends are written on the blocks of concrete. I remember Tony Adams from Fifa 2001 PC game.

Robert Pires, one of the "French musketeers" in the early 2000's.

You can go on a Stadium tour.

Dennis Bergkamp, the Dutch who was afraid to fly.

David Seaman, the last English world class goalkeeper, although ridiculed by Ronaldinho in the 2002 World Cup quarter-final.

In the past, players used to travel to and from the matches by bus. Today, they have to use public transport only after an embarrassing loss when the coach wants to teach them a lesson.

A little fan who ran away from hospital to see his team play.

Tierry Henry, 226 goals in 370 appearances.

Fan shop, what's the link between the crocodile and Arsenal?

It was freezing out there and my hands were cold. Therefore I was attracted by the gloves and winter caps.

Scarves. Different colours and shapes testify to the wide variety of trademark items in the shop. 

A glance of the fan shop, I did not want to raise too much attention with doing pictures. 

Some really nice hoodies, but the prices are quite high. I bought a whisky glass, a present for my father. I think he prefers Chelsea, but I try to change his mind, the work Wenger does with the youth comes more appealing than buying ready made players to sit on the bench.

Life of Pi, review

Can you imagine the Slum Dog millionaire in a Hemingway like struggle with the antagonist nature in the beats of the eye of the tiger only few hours after being served dinner by Gerard Depardieu? Initially I was little bit skeptical about the movie with only two main characters. I am speaking about the well expected Life of Pi hanging around the cinemas in the West End. But I was wrong twofold.

    First, I underestimated the artistry of the film-makers that can turn a sheer act of literature into a blockbuster movie. Skillfully, they put the story about Pi’s encounter with three different religions into retrospect, narrated to a writer who would turn it into a book. The authenticity was boosted by the 3D effect, at some point I really thought that the debris from the sinking ship will hit me and bent my head in despair.

Second, I forgot about the masterpiece of Ernest Hemingway starring the same two characters. An old man and his fight against the forces of the nature on the open Sea. Actually, the Life of Pi can be compared to several other books and movies. Born in India Pi grew up in the family of a zoo owner. Skinny Indian boy resembling the Shamal from slum dog built his relationship with maths and three religions – Hindu, Christianity and Islam.  The story pointed out that it is the belief in something what matters, not the particular religion as the God works under different names. Eventually, the business of Pi’s father went down and he decided to move family and animals to Canada. 

     Next passage was on a ship that sunk in the middle of the Pacific. It was similar to the Titanic, but now the weather was hot and majority of passengers were animals. Pi was left on a life-boat with an orangutan, a hyena and a wounded zebra. He did not know that there was also a big Bengal tiger, until the beast sprung out from the boat’s cover and slaughtered the rest of the non-human crew. From that point everyone would expect that Pi will befriend the beast and together struggle against the odds of survival. However the tiger is a natural predator and the author did not run away to the happily ever after, but kept the story down to earth. Pi kept the tiger at bay in the boat while he took shelter on a makeshift raft. Aware of the fact that tiger must be fed regularly so that it won’t eat him, he learned how to catch the fish and many other survival skills. 

There is a parallel with another story, the Tracy’s Tiger. In a short novel by William Saroyan the main character overcomes the shyness towards a girl thanks to the helps of an imaginary friend – a tiger. In the end Pi tells a different story which leaves in doubts whether the tiger was real, or just represented the inner force within the character. 

Also, the acting is really good, including Gerard Depardieu in a cameo appearance of the cook on the ship. However I do not give away further details of the story in order to give you an incentive to watch it.