World Cup Ticket - update

After numerous emails to the ticketing centre, they have addressed three of my concerns - the major one being the guest details. Here is their response.

"If you require more than 1 ticket on an application form, Guest passport reference details are mandatory in order to identify your guests and to facilitate the successful processing of applications. The data is required for purposes relating to Ticket allocation procedures, relevant safety and security measures and/or rights protection measures in connection with the event. Consent to this use is required as part of the application process.

If your guest can’t make it to the games you applied for, then you need to supply us with the details of the new guests so that we amend the details on our side."

I guess I can live with that...
They also promptly addressed the website problem that locked me into choosing one category ticket for all seven of my choices.
Basically I can continue now and apply for my tickets. Knowing that in a years time I can change the guest details to whomever I invite.

World Cup Ticket - the pain Part I

Here I was getting all excited to apply for my tickets today but they have made it almost impossible to complete the form.

As we all know, tickets are non-transferable, unless with the written consent of FIFA (good grief), and on the application form I have to tell FIFA who I am taking as my guest to each game I want to buy tickets for.
I also have to give their ID numbers, date of birth and Nationality. (From what I read in their FAQ's its for security and fairness reasons.)

So I have to know who, in sixteen months time, I might be friends with, dating, living with, engaged or married to.
It may be a good excuse to get out of taking the wife. "Sorry honey, but I wasnt sure if we were still going to be married, thats why I'm going with my boet."
Say I buy tickets for me and three mates (the maximum allowed) and two mates move overseas... I can't even give the other tickets to a girlfriend or another friend. Geez, that sucks.

Ok, I agree that FIFA knowing if a soccer hooligan or Osama Bin Laden is applying for a ticket and stopping black market sales is a good thing but to make me decide now who I want to take... utter BOLLOCKS!!!!

So I have emailed enquiries asking for more info as I have scoured their terms and conditions and could not find anything... lets see what they say.

I have labelled this post Part I because I am very sure that the pain will not stop anytime soon.

Christian Bale goes ape$h!t

Holy crud - found at various sites, so I wont credit any site in particular, this is a gem - Christian Bale loses it with a director of photography on the set of Terminator:Salvation. "Loses it" is probably an understatement. He rips this guy a new one.
He sure is full of himself as he goes on and on and on about how big a f&k up this was... get over yourself Mr Bale.

Respect for Chris - GONE!
download here

Where the Hell is Matt?

"14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands."

This short film was sent to me by a friend and it really cheered me up. As my friend puts it, "Now this will put a smill on yer face (unless you are of course a cynical bastard...No offense you cynical bastard!)"

Taken from wikipedia
"Harding was known by his friends for a particular dance, and while videotaping each other in Vietnam, his travel companion suggested he add the dance. The videos were uploaded to his website for friends and family to enjoy. Later, Harding edited together 15 dance scenes, all with him center frame, with the background music "Sweet Lullaby (Nature's Dancing 7" Mix)", a 1992 world music song by Deep Forest. The original Song that uses lyrics from a dying Solomon Islands language was recorded in 1971 by a French ethnomusicologist at the Solomon Islands near Papua New Guinea. The Song, Rorogwela, was sung by a young woman named Afunakwa. According to the video "Where the Hell is Afunakwa" by Matt Harding, Afunakwa died in 1998.

The video was passed around by e-mail and eventually became viral, with his server getting 20,000 or more hits a day as it was discovered, generally country by country due to language barriers, before the launch of major video upload sites."

Youtube video