* January 21 – Resident Evil 2 (PS1) * February 28 – Tekken 3 (PS1) * March 29 – Parasite Eve (PS1) * March 31 – StarCraft (Win) * May 6 – Warhammer: Dark Omen (Win) * May 22 – Unreal (Win) * May 31 – Banjo-Kazooie (N64) * August 21 – Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Win) * September 3 – Metal Gear Solid (PS1) * September 30 – Fallout 2 (Win) * September 30 – Pokémon Red and Blue (GB) * October 20 – Xenogears (PS1) * October 30 – Grim Fandango (Win) * October 31 – Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome Expansion (Win) * October 31 – SiN (Win) * November 20 – Half-Life (Win) * November 21 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) * November 30 – StarCraft: Brood War (Win) * November 30 – Starsiege: Tribes (Win) * November 30 – Thief: The Dark Project (Win) * November 30 – Baldur's Gate (Win) * December 10 – Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (N64) * December 20 – Myth II: Soulblighter (Win)
Fuck, even the second half of November had more legendary games than most years.
Featured Review: White-Ra: The Beast Movie by Spitfire_ua: Download from MYM
Every once in a while, a movie comes along with such dazzling innovation, such superb technique, that it redefines the Starcraft movie scene and sets a new standard for all other moviemakers.
This is such a movie.
Even with about a minute and a half devoted to intro/outro (which are, incidentally, very unique and well-done), this movie (at 14:56) is easily one of the longer highlight movies ever made. Spitfire is a known movie-maker, with several other great productions under his belt, but he pulls out all the technical stops on this one. Extra-large battlefields, insets, unit info on the sides, unit sound effects for emphasis, musically-timed transitions - this movie has it all, and introduces in turn several new movie-making techniques I have never seen before. It is a step above even Spitfire's previous technically superb efforts.
Sometimes the effects just make you go, "Oh, that's cool!" (like the Monster Archon scene - one of the best parts), but what sets this movie apart from other technical showfests is that the technical effects are often used to great effect to highlight the scenes themselves. Spitfire has the benefit of working with top-tier material, as White-Ra is an outstanding player (many of the scenes are played against Korean competition). So there are several impressive feats of micro that would have otherwise escaped the notice of the viewer were it not for Spitfire's dazzling special effects. Examples include the dragoon vs zergling micro scene, where the unit insets show how many kills the dragoons can get before being surrounded and killed; the just-barely nexus-destruction scenes; the sair/reav taking out a Zerg base scene; the high templar storming scenes; and my favorite of all, a zealot vs zealot battle brought to life with wonderful (and to my knowledge, first such) use of unit wireframes.
As I already hinted at, the moves themselves are of top quality through-and-through. It has it all - destroying a burrowed lurker by shooting at his own zealot (taking no damage) with his own reaver; great PvZ action sequences; innovative moves like the use of mind control against a lurker contain; impressive reaver drops; great push-breaking; and a thrilling elimination race with Bifrost. Rarely have I ever watched a movie containing at once so much technical quality and so much player quality at the same time. There are minor flaws in the movie, a couple things Spitfire could have done better, sure, but that would be nitpicking. If this movie doesn't warrant the highest score on my rating list, I am not sure what could. 10/10
The problem with this movie isn't really what is in it so much as what isn't in it. Fisheye is a great player with several major wins under his belt, and it just seems difficult to believe that what is presented here is really Fisheye's best. We see about 12 sairs and three reavers take down a base with about the same number of hydras; a quick cheese rush against a Terran in the beginning, several observer-less DT kills - nothing really inspiring. There are several good clips from WCG - but dyo already included them, and much more well-done, in his classic "WCG 2004 Highlights". The one notable feature of the movie is Fisheye's trademark storms - there are several scenes that have absolutely amazing storms, in all matchups. (I particularly liked the one where he cleared his entire cliff on Namja Iyagi with three or so storms, with the seven-tank kill a close second.)
The movie is short - very short - at 3:49, with no intro or outro, so this movie is what you make of it. It's not as good as it could have been, and several of its scenes are better done elsewhere - but hey, why not? At the very least you'll get a kick out of the storm scenes. 4.5/10
In my movies folder, I classify my movies as type - Korean scene or foreign, then individual player, clan highlight, or tournament highlight movie.
Then I have a folder called "Movies by dyo".
Dyo is undeniably the most influential figure in the Starcraft movie scene - his original Pimpest Plays movies set the very first bar for moviemaking and inspired many to come. I'll be reviewing his movies one at a time as I go along, starting with what is arguably his weakest - relatively speaking, of course.
This 7:29 movie (with a little less than a minute and a half for intro/outro) is about a German tournament - I don't know anything about it, and therefore I don't know why it's called a Racewar. Suffice to say it involves some of the top German players in their heyday - Fisheye, Breakdown, Methos, Dolife, Dashwriter, Schniblor, Socke, etc. (Mondragon, poxxelo, and Goody - among others - are mentioned in credits but I don't think they're actually in the movie, just the tournament.) The technical effects are very old-school: limited strictly to transitions between scenes and superb syncing with music, as is dyo's trademark. It's very much background, and does not command your attention. The moves themselves are well-done for the most part - since it's a tournament movie, one's expectations cannot be set too high. There's a funny scene involving Fisheye doing a probe recall onto Dolife's tanks, and Hexer attempting an all-out zeal/probe counter after Methos destroyed his nexus, but nothing too outstanding. 7/10
This movie is simply unimpressive. The music selection is fine, with good special effects and such, but there's hardly any worthwhile scenes. Firehand is apparently a T player, so there's several scenes of mm vs lurker micro, but the TvP and TvT scenes leave much to be desired. (The closing TvP scene is particularly unimpressive, made all the worse by the fact that it is in slow motion and slowly zoomed in.) And with almost three minutes to intro and outro, this movie hardly even makes five minutes. 3/10
This six minute movie is devoted entirely to TvZ and includes just about every typical TvZ micro situation. The skill level is pretty high, and it features a bunch of those "How the hell did he survive that?!" moments, the bane of ZvTers everywhere. The movie is technically very well done as well, with good musical selection and appropriate special effects, and it's sort of a benchmark against which TvZ micro movies should be measured. 8.5/10
An outstanding 11:22 (with about 2 minutes to intro/outro, but the outro is really pretty funny) celebration of Protoss. The author has never gotten around to making the promised Art of Zerg and Art of Terran - which is a shame because this is one of the best collection of P highlights available. The special effects are for the most part subdued and sync very well with its unique electronic trance/ambient background soundtrack. The music lends the movie a very space-y atmospheric feel - appropriate after all, for a Protoss highlight movie. Most of it is PvZ, naturally, with a lot of gory storming, but there are a good deal of PvP and PvT clips as well. Some of the scenes could have been better, admittedly - but I'm quibbling at this point. 9/10
This is a really weird highlight movie. It's not so much a collection of clips as it is a ten-minute visceral Starcraft experience. The special effects and music syncing are aggressive and superb, and it's quite clear that the author never intended it to be a traditional highlight movie (though there are some good clips from a PvZ between Tempest)is( and ArtOfAria). Don't watch it if you want to see great Starcraft highlights; watch it to experience Starcraft as if it was an action movie. 6.5/10
Good. This 13:00 movie (a eye-glazing 3 minutes of which is taken up by the intro and outro) features some questionable scenes (such as one of the worst bunker rushes I've ever seen), but is fine for the most part (like one nice PvT scene making good use of Hallucinate, and one really funny PvZ clip). The scene transition special effects are outstanding, while the special effects for the actual scenes are taper off towards the end. 7.5/10
Okay. This 6:53 movie (of which about 1:30 is taken up by intro/outro) is at times confusing with its structure, special effects, and lack of labeling, and not a whole lot of really impressive scenes, but it does a decent job with the scenes it has. There are several nice clips with the extra-large view of the map - always a big plus - which push this up to a 6/10.
One of the better movies I've seen lately. It's shorter than I would like a movie to be (the rest of the movie clocks in at under six minutes, with over a minute to intro/outro), and employs very little special effects (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). On the other hand, the scenes are top-notch (since it is Draco, after all), and features some of his impressive play (including his defeats of both Midas and iloveoov). As a bonus, the players and song changes are clearly labeled, as part of its clever set-up as a software program. 8.5/10
Poor. For starters, the introductory soundtrack is lifted from dyo's [pG] (Syntax - Destiny, followed by Nightwish - Nightquest, then Static X - The Only). Moreover, the 8:28 movie (with ~1:30 for the intro and outro) features a tremendous collage of unimpressive plays, (in one scene, the camera dramatically zooms in on a defiler casting plague on a couple dragoons and a reaver; in another, four vessels irradiate six lurkers), and in several scenes it is confusing which player is the one featured. The transitions between the scenes are nicely done, but there's nothing particularly memorable about this movie. 3/10
Terrible. The movie is 8:20 long, but 2:30 of that is devoted to a confusing intro and outro. Most of the movie's scenes appear to take place on FMP, and the players are stereotypically bad. In addition, some of the scenes are plain confusing - there's one where a zealot just dies while walking up to 2 sunks and being chased by 10 ling - no explanation given. The one unique factor about the movie is that there are three scenes that may possibly involve female players, according to the photos at the bottom, but they're terrible. Like, incredibly bad. One of them, Sweetness, has the following scenes: about twenty zerglings die to mnm; hydras shoot down five dropships that are just flying through the Zerg base; and six zerglings manage to kill a tank that has marines nearby. Only two of the players in the scene are any good (ChoboMarine and Clense, who is - LOZL - Korean), but they don't make up for the rest of the movie. 1.5/10
Part I: aFF, AsterriX, D for Draco, DiE, Ghost Alphas Part II: Art of Protoss, Pure Beauty Part III: SoJ-Firehand, Tribute to Space Marines Part IV: White-Ra, Fisheye, German Racewar
All the movies can be downloaded on their review page.
Index
White-Ra 10/10 Art of Protoss 9/10 D for Draco 8.5/10 Tribute to Space Marines 8.5/10 aFF 7.5/10 German Racewar 7/10 Pure Beauty 6.5/10 AsterriX 6/10 Fisheye 4.5/10 DiE 3/10 SoJ-Firehand 3/10 Ghost Alphas 1.5/10
Introduction
I have about eight gigabytes of nothing but highlight movies on my hard drive, and as a service to the TL community, I figure I'm going to go through and review most of them, with links to download as well. I'll try and focus on foreign movies, since most Korean movies pretty much feel the same.
A couple things I look for in a movie:
Skill: This is by far the most important. Nothing else matters if the plays in the movie aren't impressive. This includes both poor play (from either player) as well as the situation. So for example: watching an ultra chew through five marines isn't interesting (like in DiE); watching five marines take down an ultra is. It's cool to watch a small Protoss force overcome the odds and storm their way out of masses of hydra; it's not that cool to see it the other way around, especially not if Z is winning only because of reinforcements.
On drops: reaver/storm drops might be interesting if they do a lot of damage, but I don't want to see it over and over again in a movie. Everyone's done them at some point, so it's rarely impressive. (A nice twist on the storm drop scene came in Enemy, where the high templar simultaneously stormed the drones and the scourge chasing the still-moving shuttle.)
Style: This is somewhat similar to skill insofar as it relates to the quality of Starcraft play. Now, not every scene has to be a Pimpest Play. (Unless it's the Pimpest Plays movie.) But successful unorthodox play earns big bonus points. Sure, endless scenes of your bone-crushing gorilla TvP macro overwhelming zealots and dragoons might speak to your skill - but it's boring. Sair/goon PvT or metal TvZ or ghosts TvP is much more interesting and impressive to watch. (Admittedly, this makes it a little biased against certain matchups, since there just aren't that many impressive things to do in say, ZvP.)
Pacing: For some reason, lately, the introductions have been getting longer and longer, frequently combined with seizure-inducing "teaser" clips that proceed to take up most of the length of the movie. There's absolutely nothing wrong with such an introduction - and when done well, it's a big plus in my book - but if you're halfway through your movie and it's still teaser clips, well, there really isn't much actual footage is there?
Technical Quality: And abuse thereof. There are generally two schools of movies - Korean and foreign. Korean movies tend to be much more plain than their foreign counterparts, since they rely on VOD's for most of their content, while foreign movies use a great deal more special effects because they draw most of their footage from replays. So it's fine to have a movie without special effects - like a Korean movie - but good special effects are certainly very cool to look at. There is no need, however, to go overboard with special effects, to the point where it's difficult to watch the scene unfold. For the most part, movies that show subtle, restrained use of special effects tend to work better than movies heavily focused on special effects (though there are exceptions - notably NeO).
Music: Starcraft movie music has suffered from a great deal of cliche - dyo pioneered it with his trademark Scandinavian power metal (a la Nightwish or Sonata Arctica), and more recently Linkin Park (especially Faint and Numb/Encore) has been ubiquitous throughout Starcraft movies, especially Korean ones. But far more important than the actual choice of songs is how well the music is synced with the movie. An unorthodox soundtrack is nice (as in Art of Protoss, where the ambient techno lends a sort of laid-back feeling to the movie), but as long as the musical selection isn't downright offensive, even the most cliche of songs will do.
Misc.: Identifying who is who in a battle is very helpful, as is identifying the tournament. Zooming in on the "[known player] has left the game." is cliche, and should be avoided unless the player really is top-level.
Bonuses: Not necessary, but a welcome addition. Examples might include humorous outros (as in Art of Protoss), a clever set-up for the movie (as in D for Draco), extra-large scenes in movies built from replays, etc.
Background For TL purposes, suffice it to say that it's written to convince New Jersey legislators as part of a lobbying effort. The piece is still untitled; any suggestions?
~~~
In 1997, the state initiated the Outstanding Scholars Recruitment Program (OSRP), with the goal of keeping our top high school students in-state by funding merit-based scholarships at New Jersey colleges. Over the next nine years, the program evolved into New Jersey’s primary merit-based aid program, awarding almost 10,000 scholarships and increasing the number of high-achieving, OSRP-caliber New Jersey students at our colleges by approximately 50%.
Participating institutions have uniformly reported overwhelmingly positive results. A 2004 survey of Rutgers OSRP students, three-quarters of whom had turned down offers from out-of-state colleges, found that 98% cited the OSRP scholarship as the reason they chose Rutgers. At the College of New Jersey, 94% of its OSRP graduates remain New Jersey residents – the majority employed in engineering or the sciences, fields crucial to New Jersey’s high-tech economy. Measured against any conceivable standard, the program was a resounding success.
Yet for the second consecutive year, Governor Corzine has refused to fund the OSRP in his proposed budget. Instead, the Governor has again earmarked the money for another merit-based program called NJSTARS, which allows the top 20 percent of each high school’s graduating class to attend a two-year community college for free. Jane Oates, the Governor’s senior policy advisor on higher education, considers the program a replacement for OSRP and claims that it stretches state dollars more, since community college tuition is cheaper.
Our colleges have already begun to feel the effects of last year’s decision. With NJSTARS in place of OSRP last year, over 32,000 of our students left the state for college, while only 5,600 entered – the worst disparity in the nation. Among our very best students, the numbers were even worse – some 70% of them attended college out-of-state. And when these students search for internships, jobs, and graduate schools, they are much less likely to return to the Garden State – sapping our state of its best students and hurting our economy in the long run.
It’s not hard to see why NJSTARS was ineffective at stopping this crippling “brain drain”. The kind of students that the OSRP attracted – those with an SAT score of over 1350 and/or in the top 10% of their class – almost never consider attending community colleges, no matter how much tuition assistance is provided. To most OSRP-caliber students, NJSTARS is no incentive at all. Instead, given the skyrocketing price of tuition, they are almost compelled to attend those out-of-state institutions that are zealously courting them with lucrative financial aid offers. And when these students leave New Jersey, their new state gets a great bargain – we have footed the education bill for these students for thirteen years, but four years later, it is another state’s economy that benefits from New Jersey’s best students.
So although we consistently rank among the top in the nation in K-12 spending, without the OSRP much of that money serves only to fuel the economies of other states. NJSTARS is a worthwhile program in its own right, but as long as it presents our top students with a Hobson’s choice between receiving state merit aid or attending a four-year college, we cannot expect it to keep our best students in-state like the OSRP did. And by ensuring that some of our finest graduates stayed within New Jersey’s economy, the OSRP helped us achieve a far greater return on our K-12 investment.
After all, our OSRP scholars represented the very best products of New Jersey’s educational system – indeed, given the strength of our schools, they were perhaps some of the finest students in the nation. Yet we have become the only state in the country that makes so little effort at keeping our brightest students in the state for college. Even when the OSRP was fully funded in 2005, it cost the state less than $14 million – compare this to Georgia, which provided $390 million that same year for merit scholarships alone.
So when other states entice our best students with generous scholarships, and the only merit aid we offer them is tied to attending a two-year community college, it is not hard to see why so many of them have little choice but to leave the state for college. We have poured billions of dollars every year into their education, shaping them into the leaders of tomorrow, only to see them plucked off the vine by other states. They have already recognized the worth of our top students; why haven’t we? The OSRP was a critically important program that successfully addressed one of the most serious problems facing our state today. Abolishing it last year has already proved to be a short-sighted educational and economic calamity; for the state’s long-term economic health, it is vital that Governor Corzine and the legislature make sure to restore the OSRP in this year’s budget.
stolen from here. the footnotes are actual links in that one.
btw this was written yesterday immediately after nadal's semifinal
~~~
Earlier today, the final obstacles to the most anticipated tennis match in recent memory bowed out, as French Open semifinalists Nikolai Davydenko and Novak Djokovic succumbed in straight sets. The stage has been set for the one moment that the entire tennis world has been waiting for ever since this tournament began – the men's singles final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on Sunday, June 10.
To be sure, other storylines and dynamics have been at play this Roland Garros. Serena Williams demonstrated the talent that once threatened to end interest in women's tennis, only to wilt in her quarterfinal match against an even more determined foe. American men once again crumpled out of the singles draw, while Serbian women surprisingly filled two of the four semifinal slots. And Justine Henin has showed an admirable recovery from personal issues and dehyphenation to obliterate her opponents en route to a try for a third straight title at her most beloved Grand Slam. At any other tournament, perhaps, these stories would have gripped the attention of the tennis world at large.
But not here. With all due respect, this Roland Garros has never been and will never be about them. Much like the triumphs of Diomedes or Menelaus in the Iliad, their battles - however heroic - are but a side note to the seemingly-destined battle of the titans. Federer and Nadal, Achilles and Hector – it is their climactic clash that this tournament has been moving so inexorably towards.
The importance of winning this French Open to Roger Federer cannot be underestimated. For the past three years, the 25-year-old has indisputably been by far the best tennis player in the world (1). The Mighty Fed (as he is known) is expected (at better-than-even odds, according to English bookmakers) to win almost every tournament he enters. Sampras' defining record of 14 career Grand Slam titles now teeters on the edge of irrelevance: in the past four years Federer has already won 10 Grand Slam titles (2), and smashing the heretofore thought unbreakable – nay, thought unapproachable record – now looks like a formality, a matter of time more than anything else. His records book has begun to take on a Gretzky-esque appearance. So it's safe to say that even if he were to retire today, his place in tennis history is already safely enshrined.
But there is one gaping hole in his resume. It is the proud Roland Garros, a legendary graveyard of hardcourt champions, the black sheep of the Grand Slam family. Federer's great predecessors – Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras – all of them, so dominant at every other Slam, all have come perilously close to winning on the famed red clay, but never succeeded. Indeed, Sampras' failures reached almost tragic proportions – in thirteen tries, he made it to the semifinals only once, where, exhausted by the grueling heat and his 5-set matches, he collapsed in straight sets to the eventual champion Kafelnikov. The greatest player in the world could simply never provide an answer for Roland Garros.
Federer is a descendant of that proud lineage in more ways than one. In eight tries, he has never won the French Open. It is the one accomplishment in his career he lacks, and it is the one thing that separates him from immortality. Rightly or wrongly, tennis judges its champions only by their Grand Slam titles; that is why, for example, despite all his heartbreaking losses at Federer's hands, Andy Roddick's place in history is assured, whereas fifty years from now Tim Henman's name will be relegated to little more than a Wimbledon footnote. The legacy of the mercurial Marat Safin is forever secure because of those two brutally beautiful weeks at the 2000 US Open; the legacy of the ever-consistent David Nalbandian is not.
So it is of no use to Federer that he has already, far and away, surpassed Sampras in the clay department, making the finals of a dozen clay-court tournaments so far, and winning six of them. But history will not note that, just as it will never note that Sampras finished 90-54 on clay and, defying all odds, managed to win three major clay tournaments. All history will remember is that Sampras could never win the biggest clay tournament of them all.
And that, more than anything else, was what gnawed at Sampras throughout the twilight of his career. For all his accomplishments, his inability to succeed on clay's grandest stage haunted him, and prevented him from becoming the indisputable Greatest of All Time. There were always the doubters, the Rod Laver fans that pointed to Laver's eleven Grand Slams that came on all surfaces and his two calendar Grand Slams, a feat that no other male player since has accomplished even once.
It is those same doubters that nag at Federer. Granted, many of them, as well as almost everyone in the Sampras camp, have already converted to Federer (given, of course, that Federer stays healthy enough to surpass Sampras' aforementioned 14 Grand Slams), but the most diehard stubbornly refuse, clinging to Laver's Grand Slam legacy. They do not care that Federer has been far and away the second-best clay-court player in the world for years now, nor that he was the first male player since Stefan Edberg to reach the finals of both clay Roland Garros and grass Wimbledon in the same year. It is winning that clay Grand Slam final that matters to them.
But if Federer could hoist that Roland Garros trophy - even just once - completing his resume and erasing that stigma of being an anything-but-clay "specialist" - suddenly, it's all over. All the speculation, all the locker room debates – they would all cease. There could be no more disagreement as to the greatest tennis player of all time – after all, what more could Federer possibly achieve? By any conceivable benchmark he would stand heads and shoulders above anyone else who has ever played the game. June 10 is a defining moment for Roger Federer - it is the final peak he must to conquer in order to achieve the immortality that so eluded his idol Sampras.
But of course, Achilles needs his Hector – the archrival antagonist, the only thing standing between him and eternal glory. In this case, it is the Spanish southpaw Rafael Nadal, in every conceivable way Federer's foil. A mere glance at the 21-year-old's baseline playing style reveals a tennis player seemingly born, bred, and built to excel on clay. Armed with perhaps the most-feared forehand in the world, an undying passion for vicious topspin, as well as the best defensive game in the history of tennis, he is the quintessential modern clay-court specialist, perfecting it into an art form in much the same way that Federer has perfected classical tennis.
Not that Nadal isn't strong on other surfaces – he did reach finals at Wimbledon last year, more than what serve-and-volley maestro Henman can ever lay claim to – he's just not so ruthlessly dominant on those surfaces, and vulnerable to being outclassed by others at the very top. But on clay he is undisputed. He owns a jaw-dropping 81-match winning streak on clay, the longest winning streak in tennis history on any single surface (3). Indeed, his dominance on clay is comparable to Federer's on grass or concrete.
And as far as Federer on clay goes, Nadal has his number. To Nadal (and perhaps only Nadal), Federer is just another player. Nadal is the only player in the world with a winning record against the Mighty Fed, and has frustrated Federer in the finals of four of the biggest clay court tournaments. Perhaps at this point it is more psychological than anything else, but something about Federer's game wilts when confronted with such relentless topspin and seemingly inexhaustible defense.
Roland Garros is no exception. Even though Nadal has only played the French Open twice before, he has won it both those times, knocking out Federer each time. Nadal's own legacy is at stake here; not since Bjorn Borg in the 1970's had any player been so dominant on Paris' red clay. Winning the tournament this year would not only make Nadal the first person since Borg to win three straight at the French, but also make Nadal an incredible 3-for-3 at the French – each time, eliminating perhaps the greatest player the world has ever seen. Federer would have to take three sets off Nadal to win; this is the same number of sets Nadal has lost in the past two French Opens.
So why, might you ask, is this particular Roland Garros finals matchup so weighty, so monumental, considering Nadal's already won it twice?
Because Federer, for the first time, has shown a flash of brilliance against the only person that could deny him that Grand Slam. After five straight clay losses to Nadal, Federer recently notched his first-ever clay win against Nadal at the final of Hamburg, one of the biggest clay court tournaments (and incidentally, snapped Nadal's 81-match winning streak) – and what a win it was. After getting wiped out in the first set 6-2, Federer suddenly found his groove, making a remarkable 17 of 23 first serves in the second set, and completely turned the match around, winning the next two sets 6-2 6-0. All of a sudden Nadal's aura of invincibility is gone, Federer's confidence is through the roof, and the questions begin – can the Fed actually do it this year?
To be fair, there were a lot of mitigating factors, chief among them Nadal's sheer exhaustion at the end of such a grueling clay-court season. But such a surge could not have come at a more improbable time for Federer. He had just came off his worst slump since his ascension to the top of the tennis world, failing to win any of four consecutive tournaments for the first time in years (4), and losing matches to fifth-ranked Fernando Gonzalez and 34th-ranked Fillipo Volandri. His confidence was clearly missing, having even taken the unusual step of firing his part-time consulting coach (not that he's particularly needed coaching – after all, he won three Grand Slams in 2004 without one). Entering Hamburg, journalists across the globe despondently agreed – if the Mighty Fed on clay couldn't even beat the wildcard Volandri, what hope did he have of derailing the runaway express that was Nadal?
But that match – that one match – changed everything. Now that all of us – Federer and Nadal included – have finally caught a fleeting glimpse of what Federer is capable of on clay, all the bets were off entering the French Open. The Federer mythos is back. Suddenly it was no longer a foregone conclusion that Nadal would raise his third straight Roland Garros trophy. Could Federer finally conquer his demon and avenge his previous French Open losses to his nemesis? Could he claim the last title that has so far eluded his grasp, the one he aches for to complete his resume? Or is Nadal ready to rain on the Federer parade for a third year in a row on the red clay of Paris?
It is now nearly two weeks and 126 matches in, and Roland Garros has not disappointed. As lesser names dropped out, and as the rain sagged the spirits of others, Federer and Nadal ripped through the rest of the field towards each other, greatness seeking its own. Together, they have won 36 out of their 37 sets played, and almost twice as many games as their opponents combined. Sunday's final may well be the first true test for either of these two players so far; fitting, considering how often these two transcendent players seem the only worthy opponents for each other. Their semifinal opponents managed to push them farther than anyone else had, but the outcome could never truly be in doubt - nobody was going to stop these two from meeting in the final. The gods themselves were helpless against Achilles' rage and burning vengeance; likewise, against Federer and Nadal, the best efforts of the world's finest clay-court players were in vain. The task falls to those two men to stop each other and claim the title for himself.
And so it is. On June 10, the seemingly destined finals match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will finally be played. Both players have demonstrated that true hallmark of a champion, to step up the level of their game when it truly matters (5) - and never has it mattered more than this Roland Garros final. Riding on this match is everything these two greats have ever fought for: for Nadal, his own legacy as one of the all-time great clay-court players; for Federer, immortality. Regardless of which champion emerges triumphant, history will be made in Paris on Sunday night.
It's gonna be good.
(1) Watching Federer play, it's not hard to see why. His talent, seemingly too much for one shot alone, encompasses his entire game. Watching him play Agassi, one of the game's greatest returners, one wonders: could Federer be even better? Against Hewitt, one of the game's fastest players, one wonders: could Federer be even faster? There are no weaknesses in his armor - perhaps Nadal is a bit faster than him, or maybe Gasquet's topspin backhand is a touch more stylish, but aside from that Federer is pretty much the best in the world in virtually every tennis department. Serve, return, forehand, backhand, volleys, speed, defense, offense, touch, mental toughness - he's got it all.
(2) For comparison, the other 127 men at Roland Garros combined only have 11 Grand Slam titles – five of those from so-called clay-court specialists who have only won Roland Garros and nothing else.
(3) It is a feat comparable to a pitcher throwing back-to-back-to-back no-hitters, or Fischer's double 6-0 Candidates shutouts of Bent Larsen and Mark Taimanov.
(4) A ludicrous criterion for a player's "worst slump", to be sure, but hey, those impossible standards are what comes with being Federer.
(5) Rattling off records Federer holds has become almost trite, but allow me to give an example of his performance under pressure – after crashing out of the French Open in the first round back in 2003, he has since done extraordinarily well at Grand Slams, going an astounding 96-5, winning 54 of his last 55 matches, and reaching the last twelve consecutive semifinals (and the last eight consecutive finals). This is even more impressive given how many athletes in the history of professional tennis are known as chokers – players who can't bring their game to the biggest stage. Federer thrives on that. And as far as performance in finals go - since July 2003, Federer has played in 43 singles finals and won 37 of them – with 5 of the 6 losses from Rafael Nadal. Likewise, Nadal has played in 25 singles finals in his career and won 21 of them – with 3 of the 4 losses from Roger Federer.
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted - One moment Would you capture it? Or just let it slip?
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There's vomit on his uniform already, teammate's kimchi He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready To SK, but he keeps on forgettin His TvZ BO's, the whole crowd goes so loud He builds his rax, but the rines won't come out He's chokin, how everybody's jokin now The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah! Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity Oh, there goes Midas, he choked He's so mad, but he won't give up that Easy, no He won't have it, he knows his whole back's to these ropes It don't matter, he's dope He knows that, but he's broke He's so stagnant that he knows When he goes back to the SKT dorm, that's when it's Back to the lab again yo This whole Savior shit He better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him
You better lose yourself in the micro, the moment You own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
The soul's escaping, through this hole that it's gaping This OSL is mine for the taking Make me champ, as we move toward a, new world order A normal life is borin, but superstardom's close to post mortem It only grows harder, only grows hotter He blows us all over these booth babes is all on him Coast to coast shows, he's known as the next Boxer Lonely roads, God only knows He's grown farther from his clan, he's no leader He goes on Bnet and barely knows his 2v2 partner But hold your nose cuz here goes the cold water His babes don't want him no mo, he's cold product They moved on to the next chobo who macros He nose dove and couldn't even beat Nada So the soap opera is told and unfolds I suppose it's old partna', but the game goes on Da da dum da dum da da
You better lose yourself in the micro, the moment You own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
No more games, I'ma change what you call rage Tear this mothafuckin roof off like 2 dogs caged I was offracin in the beginnin, the mood all changed I been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage But I kept massgaming and practicin on Vampire Best believe somebody's payin the pied piper All the pain inside amplified by the fact That I can't get by with my 9 to 5 And I can't provide the right type of life for my team Cuz man, these goddam food stamps don't buy computers And it's no documentary, there's no Storyteller, this is my life And these times are so hard and it's getting even harder Tryin to qual and get through ODT, plus Teeter totter caught up between being SKT and [gm] Old clan drama's screamin on and Too much for me to wanna Stay in one spot, another day of monotony Has gotten me to the point, I'm like a snail I've got to formulate a plot 'fore I end up in army or shot Gosu is my only mothafuckin option, chobo's not Coach, I love you, but this trailer's got to go I cannot grow old in SKT's lot So here I go is my shot. Mouse fail me not cuz maybe the only opportunity that I got
You better lose yourself in the micro, the moment You own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
You can do anything you set your mind to, man
feat. a special guest appearance by Jay (P):
If you've got Zerg problems I feel bad for you son I got 99 problems but PvZ ain't one
~~~
that bottom pic's from Smurg's South Side is Best, one of the all-time greatest topics on this forum
i wasn't originally going to put this much effort into it, but when i realized eminem = mnm i just had to go do it
the rhymes are still dope, but i had to fuck up the flow in certain places
![[image loading]](http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~edfu/starcraft/8rax.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/Cypher_/kkke.jpg)
