If you know me, you’ll know that I really enjoy watching table tennis videos on YouTube. Over the past couple years, I’ve immersed myself in this sport that is little known in the USA. This is not the same game that is played in garages across our country, and a lot of people don’t know about the finesse, intricacies, and sheer awesomeness that is exhibited by top table tennis athletes. Of course, the primary reason for this is that the USA is no where near challenging the rest of the world.

With that in mind, the best way to introduce people to a professional sport is to show the top players and how they go about playing the game. So, without further ado, I present you the top 10 men’s table tennis players.

10. Joo Se Hyuk (Korea)

Joo is the only defensive player in the top 10. Defenders aim to take consistent and safe shots, waiting for their opponent to make a mistake. Joo’s style is what’s called “modern defense”, because he will attack if he sees a good opening.

From the video, you’ll notice that the ball floats back every time he hits it. This is because he has what’s called a “pips out” rubber on his backhand, which basically reverses the top spin from his opponents, giving back tricky and heavy backspin shots.

Here, Joo is seen in the green jersey:

9. Jun Mizutani (Japan)

Mizutani is a relatively new and young addition to the top ten. His style is a shakehand all around looper, meaning that he relies on heavy top spin shots to overwhelm is opponents. However, many times, he’ll fall back into an active defensive position, relying on consistency and patience to wear down his opponents.

8. Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus)

Samsonov is known in China as the “Tai Chi Master”. He’s an offensive shakehand looper that uses his opponents strength against them. In essence, he uses a combination of tricky blocks and quick misdirection to win. He’s an older player that is on the decline.

7. Xu Xin (China)

Xu Xin represents the next generation of Chinese players. In the past ten years, the Chinese have dominated table tennis, leaving the rest of the world behind. Xu Xin is a very aggressive penholder player that uses a lot of speed and power. In terms of power, he probably has the most powerful forehand stroke on the planet.

Here, we see him in the black jersey:

6. Wang Liqin (China)

Wang Liqin is a 3 time world champion aggressive shakehander. He represents the ideal for all aggressive looping shakehanders, and his form is perfection. Even though he’s getting older, he’s still very competitive on the world class scene.

Here, we see him in the green jersey, playing against Samsonov:

5. Zhang Jike (China)

Zhang, like Xu Xin, is also a young new player from China. His forehand topspin is unparalleled. He is known for his deadly combination of spin and speed.

Here, we see Zhang in the red jersey:

4.Wang Hao (China)

Wang Hao represents a new generation of penholders that uses both sides the paddle. Traditional penholders will only use one side, which leaves their backhand weak and vulnerable. Wang, however, is able to keep up with the best shakehanders with his reverse penhold backhand. He is a well rounded all around attacker.

Here we see him in the blue jersey winning the world championships:

3. Ma Lin (China)

Ma Lin is a penhold master of trickery. He has one of the most deceptive serves, coupled with deadly 3rd ball attacks and unpredictable variations of returns. Coaches, after measuring his hits with high speed cameras, have said that he is able to generate more spin on the ball than any other players they have seen.

2. Timo Boll (Germany)

Timo Boll is one of the only europeans at the moment that can challenge China. He’s a very consistent all around shakehand attacker.

1. Ma Long (China)

And at the top, we have Ma Long, probably the most aggressive shakehand player on the scene. He’ll typically try to cover a lot of the table with his forehand, preferring to step around to make finishing shots. Usually, his opponents are quickly overwhelmed by his speed and consistency.

I spent the last two weeks traveling through Italy, eating my way through various provinces. Along the way, I was floored by the quality of food Italians enjoy. You can check out my photoset to see a glimpse.

Eating in Italy is both liberating and intoxicating.

Americans are afraid of food. We scrutinize our diets, contemplating levels of saturated fats and questioning the origins of every ingredient. Italians simply eat. And eating simply is eating better.

Italian food is the most loved food in the world. Whether you’re in New York or Norway, you’ll find people dining on some form of spaghetti or pizza. There are three factors to the success of Italian food: freshness and locality, simplicity, and umami. Yes, I’m using a Japanese concept to describe an old world European cuisine. I’ll explain soon.

Freshness and Locality

When you eat in Italy, you are eating locally. The Italians have an unparalleled level of respect for their ingredients. Each morsel of produce encountered is the best it can be.

During my trip, I’ve tasted impossibly sweet tomatoes, deeply savory slices of prociutto, and rich creamy scoops of gelato. Each bite was bittersweet, because no matter how you slice it, Italian produce is just better than the rest of the world. The produce in California, arguably the best in America, even pales in comparison.

So what’s the secret? Some say it’s the air, others say it’s the water. Italy is just naturally the best place to grow many types of produce. Whether it’s tomatoes from Napoli, milk and cream from Emilgio-Romagna cows, or olives from the Amalfi coast, Italian cuisine has an advantage even before heating up the skillet.

But more important than the quality of the local ingredients is the Italian philosophy of eating fresh and local. Chefs in Italy are fiercely dedicated to using local, fresh, and in-season ingredients. Through this commitment, the foundation of Italian cuisine is firmly rooted in quality. This is the reason why simple dishes like bruschetta are sublime when the ingredients are right, and disastrously dull when they are not.

Italian chefs, wherever they are, will turn to using local ingredients. One thing to remember is that even the tomato, which we strongly associate with Italian cuisine, originated from the New World. Only after pioneers brought back the plant did Italians incorporate it into their cuisine. It turns out tomatoes grow exceedingly well in the Italian climate. It’s a real testament to the Italian philosophy of incorporating local ingredients that grow well.

Simplicity

Italian food is simple. It’s an honest cuisine that let’s the produce and ingredients shine. You’ll be surprised to learn that a lot of Italian dishes only comprise of three or four ingredients. Bruschetta is tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and bread. Bolognese sauce is chopped root vegetables, beef, pork, and wine, slowly simmered.

In the US, we like to overcomplicate Italian food. We overstuff, oversauce, and overdo classic Italian recipes. For example, a typical lasagna in the US explodes with thick layers of mozzarella, meat, sauce, and other random ingredients.

In contrast, the classic Bolognese lasagna is comprised of Bolognese sauce, bechemel sauce, spinach sheet pasta, and parmesan cheese. Each layer contains a balanced and spare amount of these ingredients. Italian chefs understand that one component of a dish should not drown out all the other flavors. After tasting how delicate a lasagna could be, all the other versions I’ve tasted before felt heavy and overburdened.

Umami

Italians are masters at lacing their food with umami, the delicious savory fifth taste that is associated with the presence of glutamates. This is different from MSG, which is basically artifically injecting glutamates into foods.

The foundational Italian ingredients naturally contain very high levels of umami: ripe tomatoes, parmesan reggiano, prosciutto, porcini mushrooms, ragu. The aging process in parmesan reggiano in particular produces one of the highest levels of glutamates found in any naturally made ingredient. This is the reason why parmesan is a staple in pantries across the world.

With this trifecta, there is no surprise that Italian food is revered, eaten, and imitated across the world. It is said that Italians, even at their poorest, eat better than the richest countries in the world.

After my trip, I’m hoping to emulate as much of their philosophy as possible. You don’t need to be in Italy to cook great Italian food. You just need to remember to use the freshest ingredients around you to create an honest meal. Any Italian grandmother would approve of that.

This past weekend, my credit card was declined at various venues. It turns out, there was a fraudulent charge made on my card.

The problem with verifying fraudulent charges is that they make you do it over the phone. All online access to your account is locked. This can make it difficult to remember exactly which charge you made, especially if you’re the kind of person who forgets the various places you’ve been in the past few days. A lot of context is lost.

As I was on the phone, trying to remember exactly what I did, I remembered my foursquare account. Foursquare is a fun little location aware app I recently started really getting into. They make it a game to check-in online whenever you arrive at a new venue.

With the super secret check-in history page, I had in hand all the places I’ve been in the past few days, and could easily spot the fraudulent charges.

In essence, foursquare has now become my very accurate location memory. There are definitely fun social aspects about using the service, but what I find compelling is that diligent users of location aware services like foursquare will find lots of situations where location data is a logistical gold mine.

Now, if I only I can figure who’s been making those big online retail purchases.

Saw this great big lonely husky outside of Basil Canteen (which is a great Thai place that’s actually open late in SOMA, by the way. And yes, it’s better than Osha.)

We’re suckers for costumes.

Photo of the photo by Joanne

Photo by Marshall Astor

Yesterday, we had a going away lunch for Kurt, who will be leaving Scribd for greener pastures. He brought us to his favorite small restaurant in San Francisco — Roadside Cafe — which specializes in South Carolina style barbecue. While chowing down on some ribs and pulled pork, we discussed the finer points of souther cuisine. It really made me realize how alien southern food is around Northern California. Trust me, it’s tough finding a good BBQ place in the city.

This reminded me of a passage in Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma where he discusses the lack of food culture in America. Okay, that’s an extreme thing to say: of course, we do have some strong culinary rituals, like the Thanksgiving turkey, southern barbecue, and Louisiana creole food. But, all of this still pales in comparison to the fanatic food cultures in other countries, like Spain or France. Let’s face it, the general public in San Francisco doesn’t nearly think about their food heritage as much as people in San Sebastian, Spain.

Pollan goes on to explain that we’re a nation of people who eat many of their meals in cars. This is the antithesis of European cuisine, where the food is ingrained into everyone’s life. It’s no wonder that American’s are suckers for food fads, like the low-carb diet and health shakes.

Many times, I’m envious of these older countries that have such a rich culinary heritage.

On the flip side, I’m also glad that we’re young and diverse nation, allowing us to explore more gustatory options. I just hope that someday in the distant future, our ancestors don’t find themselves closely guarding the culture of Frito-Lay chips and Cheetos.

I’m going to start blogging about some of the new music I’m discovering each week. Recently, I’ve been stuck in a rut with my music, and haven’t been seeking much new stuff out. Perhaps this will get me motivated to keep looking. Because, there’s always a new track worth loving.

ISAN

First this week is ISAN, an analogue electronic band on the morr music label. They’re a British duo that collaborates via the web on their music. Most of their stuff is pretty calming and minimalistic. Great for those long drives.

ISAN – Look and Yes [m4a]

Do Make Say Think

Do Make Say Think is a Toronto band that is focused on instrumental and improvisation music. They combine jazz, distorted guitar, bass guitar, and other instruments that end up with a very lush atmosphere.

Do Make Say Think – Soul and Onward [mp3]

This past Sunday I was bringing up the rear at Bay to Breakers, shooting as many wacky people as possible. There were a few close calls with the SLR being knocked around, but overall, the crowd was just chilling. Highlights include a moving giant aquarium with fish dressed people inside, a whole crowd of baroque aristocrats, and of course, the salmon “swimming” upstream.

Joanne and I ended up walking about halfway and grabbing lunch in the Haight. At the end, I realized that we could have snapped much better pictures if we had started standing at the midpoint of the race and just shot people as they approached us. Keeping up with the crowd while shooting pictures can be quite a challenge. All in all, it was a great day for shooting, and bay to breakers never shy away from a photo op.

Okay, I’ve been blog tagged by Lawrence Coburn, and have officially broken my hiatus from blogging on my personal blog. At least for now.

1. I used to be in a breakdancing/martial arts troupe in college. Here’s a short video to prove it.
2. When I was about 15, I ran a BBS using a second phone line from my house. Originally, it was called Proximity, but, this was soon changed to the much cooler Fifth Dimension.
3. During high school, I spent a summer helping the Oklahoma library department index websites for all the counties in Oklahoma. What fun that was…
4. I once had three milkshakes spilled on me at a diner, and I sensed it was going to happen even before the waitress came out. “Shakes are on me…”
5. I used to be a blogger at Slashfood.

Okay, now I shall tag Brian Solis, Walter Schlender, and Greg Narain.