Football

Hallo, hola... Emma here!

When I started this blog, I just knew I would have to touch the topic of the currently most important thing to male population: football. Today are the finals of the Mundiel; who will take the throne, Germany or Argentina? Yesterday Brazil lost to Netherlands 3 to 0. I imagine Brazilians aren't the happy campers right now.

This World Cup would be remembered by a lot of things and not all of them good: last-time champions and favourites not passing the qualification round, underdogs managing to deal serious blows to before mentioned(namely Costa Rica and Columbia) and most famous of all, atrociously bad refereeing.

The opening match Brazil vs. Croatia is one of the best examples. I try not to be too biased(hello, I'm Croatian!), but some the Japanese referee's decisions were more then little suspicious. Naturally, I'm talking about that blasted penalty in 71'. Seriously, the gall of that man... I should probably stop now before I start swearing too much. But past is past, we need to move on(but I sincerely hope he won't referee any other match of that magnitude in the next couple of years).

Next point: favourites. I never thought I would see the omnipotent tica-taca Spain fall on its knees. Both them and Italy are major disappointments of this World Cup. That kind of game....
This Mundiel was fatal for many, and many would like to forget it. Unfortunately, it won't happen any time soon. Absolute underdog Costa Rica defeating Uruguay, Columbia defeating Greece, Iran and Bosnia and Herzegovina giving nightmares to Argentina, Netherlands utterly defeating and humiliating Spain, Chile giving Brazil run for their money...
It blurred the edges between weak and strong, turned our perception of victory, and in a nutshell changed the way football is played. This Mundiel also showed us something else: deadly weaknesses of every bigger team.

Brazil: get Neymar out of the game, everything falls to dust. Argentina: Lionel Messi is cut off, they're having truckload of trouble. Netherlands: if Robben is properly 'caged', no goals(unless by some divine intervention opponents manage to score own goal). Spain: nullify their tactics and they're dead. Italy: watch for the middle and you'll prevent lots of problems. Uruguay: find your way around their defence and you've practically won the match.

I could go on and on, but I think that despite disappointments we found truly surprising 'new hopes': USA, Costa Rica and Columbia to begin with, followed by incredible Germany, who made a huge appearance.

I'm sure that the next world Cup in Soči, Russia would bring a lot more surprises, more exciting games and hopefully better referees!

P.S. Aren't you excited for today's match? I surely am!

Music

Hey, it's Emma, again.

Ha ha, I can''t believe I'm actually broadcasting my thoughts to half the world... if anyone's bothering to read this. I feel slight pity for all of those famous people. I mean, your life being constantly tracked? Nah, I'll pass. Although, this isn't that better, is it?

Anyway, music. Oh glorious music. I think that the most unfortunate people are those who don't know how to enjoy music. Be it classical, retro, pop, rock, R&B, jazz, metal... Music is a vent we all need. I'm sure most of us have written a song at least once in our lives(although, I was forced by my Literature Teacher. Bleh. Never again!) But I'm not going to talk 'bout music in scientific sense: I've had enough of it for now. I'm on holiday, for God's sake! No, I'm gonna write about the influence the lyrics have on us.

I'm witness to a growing trend of singers making absolutely cool and upbeat melody, while the words hold little to no meaning. Don't you sometimes feel sick all of the songs talking about love? I can bet every third song is about romantic love in all variations: Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, One Direction to some extent(they've gotten better)... Despite the fact that people tend to scoff and jeer at hard rock, metal and similar genres, fact remains that they often portray real life emotions better. Currently, my absolute favorites are Boulevard of Broken Dream and Welcome to My Life by Green Day and Simple Plan respectively. It surely reflect my mood right now(it's awfully rainy - it totally kills your mood) and they paint quite accurately how we tend to feel sometimes, whether we would like to admit or not.

My other favorites(currently anyway - my Top 5 list changes practically every other day or so), are Counting Stars by OneRepublic and Shatter Me, joint work of Lzzy Hale and Lindsey Stirling. Almost total opposites, right? I try not to narrow myself down to just one genre or artist: the more the merrier, right? Besides, constant changes does wonders for your imagination and memory: isn't it easier to practice your short-term memory by remembering lyrics of your favorite songs then by remembering some ridiculously complicated  chart or something similar?

There's only one downside to this practice: once stuck in your head, said song(s) can replay in your head at the most unfortunate of times; like in the middle of super-difficult Latin exam(I know the feeling from the personal experience!)

Books

I suppose I should introduce myself, seeing as you don’t know anything about me.

My name is Emma. Boring, normal and ‘mundane’ name, yet so intriguing. People sometimes ask me how I feel about sharing my first name with some the famous Hollywood actresses. My answer is: I. Don’t. Bloody. Care. I’m my own person. Speaking of which, I read Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (again!) and I was left a bit reeling. Hermione changed so much: from the annoying, bushy know-it-all into a rebel and starter of revolution.... I started asking myself: how much of the book reflects its writer’s true feelings and opinions, and how much is written because of the demand of public (and I don’t mean it in a positive way!).

Let me explain. In the last two decades, the number of book writers literally skyrocketed: every now and then I hear about new franchises,new fandoms... What the hell is going on?! I, as an avid book lover, find this very intriguing and worrying. I mean, I read most of today's bestsellers like Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Mortal Instruments, 39 clues, The Fault In Our Stars and so on and so on. Let's face it people, there are very few of those new books that can teach you about something you'll truly need in your life. Most of them were written either because writer really wanted to make us fell and think(like The Fault In Our Stars: that one seriously gets to your heart) or to be appealing to wide range of readers: easy-to-read, funny and often irritating cliché.

Twi-hards, don't kill me now, but I really don't understand your fixation on that series. I admit, when I first read I fell in love with it too, but don't you think it's a bit shallow? I know it's the story about love and its immortality, yadda yadda, but basically the plot of the whole series is about a girl who can't choose between werewolf(shape shifter it means y, whatever!) and a vampire and all the complications that arises from that. 

What do you truly like: a book or a character?

I think every fan of anything, books in this case, should really stop and ask himself: how much of your love for the book is for the plot, and how much for the characters. Have you read, for example, PJO just because you thought Logan Lerman was cute in the movie? Or have you read it because you wanted to see the way author put Greek myths into this era(namely me)? These are just the examples, by the way, so you can't say I'm bashing Twilight. (Gah! I'm still stuck on my Fanfiction vocabulary!)

What I wanted to tell you is to be more critical toward your choices of books. I know it'll be hard to get past the infatuation, but if you can make three logical arguments as for why you like certain book, it means that the book and its message has wormed its way into your life - and by logical I mean about plot and narration, not, I don't know, about how good character looks or something like that.

You think you can do that? I surely can. And I'm only sixteen, for heaven's sake!