This morning, my wife drove me to Pop Pie in South Park, where a Too Good to Go order waited. The haul? Two pies, one traditional chicken, the other Hog (e.g. pulled pork). I walked most of the way the home, proceeding to North Park and to University Heights—30th all the way to Meade.
Wow, were the streets packed with people. I have never seen Sunday like this. The majority of folks was destination bound, with local bars and eateries the primary destinations—basically anywhere with big screen TVs. Argentina and Spain squared off for the FIFA World Cup final match, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
The Featured Image is a good example of the gatherings. Fairplay Bar in North Park packed `em in and lined `em down the street. I used Nikon Zf and NIKKOR Z 40mm f/2 lens.to make the moment. Vitals: f/11, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 40mm; 11:06 a.m. PDT.
The big game started at Noon PDT. I later watched via live broadcast thanks to the Antop HD Smart Bar HDTV & FM Amplified Antenna and our Samsung television. I had no intention of subscribing to Fox One streaming when the local network affiliate televised the soccer—eh, football—match for free. Spain eventually beat Argentina 1-0, and the loser fought fiercely to tie the score.
The half-time show made me want to puke. Was any of it real? The whole thing seemed AI-generated to my eyes and ears. The choreography and music were too precise and quick to be believably real—and every singer looked like he or she lip-synced to prerecordings.
Madonna! Don’t get me harping about her. Was it AI, plastic surgery, or prosthetics and makeup that made her face and limbs look decades younger? Some women are naturally graced with youthful appearance in their Sixties. Madonna is not among them, and everything about her appearance seemed so unnatural. What’s that saying, and I sincerely don’t mean to disparage but simply make a point about the unsettling makeover: Lipstick on a pig.