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Insatiable: Is This Netflix’s Most Controversial Show Yet?

Marty
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Insatiable: Is This Netflix’s Most Controversial Show Yet?

The name of the show didn’t give too much away when it popped up in my Netflix suggestions. A quick Google search told me that the show’s creator also worked on one of my all-time favourite TV shows, Dexter. That bought Insatiable by attention and here’s what I’ve thought so far.

Note – I’m still watching and am only about halfway through season one.

What is Insatiable All About?

Here goes. Insatiable is all about Patty, a girl who loses quite a bit of weight after punching a homeless man and in return takes a punch back. She gets her jaw broken and wired, leaving her on a liquid diet and hence, during the summer break of school, she loses the weight which had led to her being bullied.

During the court case of Patty versus the homeless guy, Patty is assigned a lawyer who also happens to be obsessed with coaching girls in beauty pageants. After being falsely accused of sexual harassment with a pageant participant, he stops coaching until he meets Patty, who he sees as his opportunity for redemption. As you can imagine, all of this along with the host of characters in the show are living in a wild circus of plots and there you have it. That’s what Insatiable is all about.

This has very little to do with Dexter beyond the voice-over monologues. Even Dexter, the serial killing blood spatter analyst isn’t as controversial as Insatiable is.

The Insatiable Controversies

Before the show even started, the trailer caused havoc online.

After this trailer was released, over  200k signatures were gathered on Change.org citing fat-shaming and a potential negative impact on the mental health of young girls.

Seems like a fair point and there are some more sensitive topics in the show too. I could rattle them all off, but the big ones are:

  • Bob being accused of molesting a child
  • The statutory rape of a boy by a women
  • ….

…actually, you know what. If you want to read about all the problems that people have found with Insatiable so far, just read this on Vox or this on Buzzfeed. I’ve got a different take on it.

The Furore Around Insatiable is Totally Over the Top

I’m a pretty big guy, hence I’ve tried to lose weight publically through Motivating Marty – I promise, that’s making another comeback soon. Now, I’ll admit I’ve been putting myself out there lately by commenting on the female birth control app Natural Cycles and by not being an American teenager, maybe I’m not in the best position to comment on the ins and outs of this show. But, not once while watching Insatiable did I feel offended.

Look, there’s some pretty rough stuff that comes out in the first half of the series, but it’s all tongue in cheek and taking the piss. Reading articles like the ones from Vox and Buzzfeed, I do get the feeling that these people are taking everything a little too seriously and are a little too willing to be offended.

Insatiable: The Verdict

Is the show fantastic? Not really, but it’s grand. Remember, I’m the guy that thoroughly enjoyed Kimmy Schmidt. I’m halfway through the first season and I’m feeling less compelled to view the rest of it. It’s a really interesting show because of how I felt watching Afflicted. That’s a show about real people and real problems, but very few people were triggered over that.

Insatiable is easy watching and personally, I think people are too fast to say this show is offensive before saying it’s just meh. There are reasons not to watch it, but fat shaming and the likes isn’t a reason for me. If you want some easy viewing that doesn’t take too much thinking to follow, this very well might be up your street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afflicted: New Netflix Docu-series You’ll Struggle to Relate To

Marty
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Afflicted: New Netflix Docu-series You’ll Struggle to Relate To

Afflicted is one of the latest Netflix Original releases. The docu-series looks into the lives of people who seem to be suffering from allergies to human progress. What the hell does that mean? Let’s take a look at some of the people behind the show.

The People of Afflicted

Bekah, a self-described witch and psychic, suffers from mould allergies and had to move to the desert with her partner.

Carmen suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, meaning she’s overcome with aches and pains when in close proximity to WiFi, powerlines or fluorescent lights.

Jamison is dealing with Chronic Fatigue or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, leaving him bed-ridden for two years.

Jake is a composer who scored the animated hit, Final Space, also available on Netflix. He suffers from chronic Lyme disease and as a result was unable to interact with people, suffered from personality loss along with light and sound sensitivity.

Pilar, another woman from Afflicted, was subjected to a natural gas leak for over three years. As a result, she was left with a host chemical sensitivities.

The series’ director doesn’t just tell the stories of the afflicted, but also the turmoil caused with their network of friends and family and this is where my personal inner conflict kicked off.

The Difficulty With Afflicted

It’s hard to relate to some of the people in the show because their cases either seem unlikely or incredibly unfortunate and certainly fall into the category of ‘lesser known afflictions’. Carmen, who is a generally energetic and likeable person, leaves her husband behind after years of his support to seek out a better place to live, free from electromagnetic interference. Jake is an extremely likeable person but the director doesn’t shy away from showing how difficult his father finds the situation.

The real difficulty with Afflicted comes with Pilar. While her case seems genuine, the director doesn’t hold back in showing us a dark side to her personality. She openly admits she is no longer in love with her husband but is happy to let him help her if it means he feels like they still have a relationship. A quick look on Reddit shows what people think of her.

There’s also one more glaring issue…

Are the People of Afflicted Sick?

Afflicted looks at the stories of very real people who believe they are sick but their afflictions constantly come under scrutiny. When describing one person’s affliction, the on-screen caption states “she believes she suffers from”, which immediately forces the viewer to question the afflicted’s story. The people in the show also do make some questionable decisions themselves, like Bekah who turns down a free $25k treatment plan which promises to cure her.

This left many wondering if these people are suffering from mental health issues more than physical medical issues. If true, this opens up a world of problems for Netflix who are now exploiting the stories of these very real people. One thing is for certain, the people from the show have no doubts about their illnesses:

Afflicted: The Verdict

I binge-watched this docu-series in one sitting. It’s compelling viewing, but I’m not proud of that. It’s a human safari and whether or not they are physically ill or mentally ill, I’m not so sure the series was created with the best interest of the people in mind.

Is it right to have people with either physical medical conditions or mental health issues being exposed to people ripping them apart on Reddit?

Shows like this need to arrive at a conclusion for the people involved. There needs to be a resolution or else it’s just entertainment at someone else’s expense. Afflicted left me questioning a few things but not the people from the show.

Update:

Since publishing, the brother of Bekah, Nick who also features in the series, has been in touch with me to clarify some of the misinformation around Bekah’s case. He clarified that Bekah turned down the free treatment plan upon the guidance of another doctor, Dr. Neil Nathan. Dr. Nathan had run several tests to confirm Bekah’s condition and also advised “there’s very little evidence to support stems cells as an effective treatment for severe mold sensitivity” and “had Bekah “simply” had Chronic Lyme Disease, she would have taken the treatment without a second thought”.

Nick also highlighted that the Netflix crew had filmed statements explaining all of this but they omitted them from the final cut.

Nick’s not alone in criticising the Netflix crew for how the show’s final edit portrays the afflicted:

Natural Cycles: Would You Trust a Birth Control App?

Marty
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Natural Cycles: Would You Trust a Birth Control App?

I’d like to think over the past few years, I’ve proven myself to be quite the tech advocate. From apps that force you to scan the barcode on your toothpaste to snooze an alarm to the latest smartphones. I’ve tested them all and I’m usually pretty positive, but only where positivity is due. Which leaves me in a pickle when it comes to Natural Cycles. It ticks all the Goosed.ie boxes:

  1. It’s a new and clever way of doing something
  2. There’s an app
  3. There’s a gadget
  4. People seem to like it

But even with all those boxes ticked, I can’t say I’m comfortable with the idea of Natural Cycles. Here’s my admittedly male review of a female birth control app.

What is Natural Cycles?

Natural Cycles is an app designed to help women track their menstrual cycles and, more importantly, their fertility. The app is a premium service costing €64.99 per year which includes a free thermometer which can measure accurately to two decimal places. The onus is on women to take their temperature every morning, immediately after waking up. The app then works its magic, taking all the available data and running it through an algorithm; this is why it takes the app at least three cycles to start working.

Once the app understands your cycles, it will start to label your days as either:

  • Red Days
  • Green Days

Having sex without the use of a condom or other contraceptive method on a Red Day means you’re en-route to baby town. Green Days, according to the manufacturer, means you’re in the clear to have sex without another means of protection.

Is Natural Cycles Safe?

Natural Cycles isn’t the safest method of contraception. If you’re looking for the safest form of contraception, female implants top the list with a 99% effectiveness rating. Here’s how the whole field compares taking some of the more aggressive figures across the board, according to British NHS statistics:

Now, I do have a problem with the number beside Natural Cycles. The research was carried out by the app’s founders, two former CERN physicists. While they claim their work to be accurate, that’s a fairly sizeable conflict of interest. Also, the sample size of test participants is questionable, given it involved a very limited age group of people.

This isn’t just me getting my tinfoil hat out either, the app is currently under serious scrutiny.

How Effective is the Natural Cycles App?

While research indicates an effectiveness of 93%, Natural Cycles has come under major scrutiny in Sweden.

A major Stockholm hospital reported the app to the Medical Products Agency after 37 unwanted pregnancies were aborted from a total of 668 unwanted pregnancies.

You might be able to take the Natural Cycles reliability as gospel, but there are a lot of maybes, ifs and buts which open up users to risk of unwanted pregnancy. One reason I personally don’t like the idea of Natural Cycles is buried deep in the FAQs.

Can You Use Natural Cycles With Irregular Cycles?

If you have irregular cycles, you absolutely should not depend on Natural Cycles as a form of birth control. To be fair, the Natural Cycles website does call this out in their frequently asked questions, but it does make me feel like it’s a little buried. Here’s what they have to say:

What About Irregular Cycles?

It’s quite common to have irregularities, especially if you have recently stopped using hormonal contraception. The Natural Cycles algorithm takes factors such as cycle regularity and temperature fluctuations into account when analysing your unique cycle and calculating predictions. It will still be effective, but you might experience more red days. That’s why it may not be suited as a contraceptive for women with very irregular cycles. However, by tracking your cycle you will have a complete overview of how your unique cycle works and may even find out what is causing these irregularities by taking note of symptoms or discussing it with your doctor.

Just look at how long it took for the Natural Cycles team to state it might not be suitable for women with irregular cycles! Now, the onus is on women and their partners to research a contraceptive method that meets their needs. It’s up to them to ensure they know the facts, but I personally believe Natural Cycles are not presenting all the facts with complete clarity.

Elsewhere in their FAQs, Natural Cycles outlines where they deliver their thermometers too. If you can’t get one, they casually drop in that you can pick up any two decimal certified thermometer to use with their service. For something as important as contraception, that just seems a little casual for my liking.

A quick stop over to Boards.ie show many users echo my concerns!

Should You Try Natural Cycles?

For a start, don’t take my word for it – I’m a guy without expert knowledge of female contraception and secondly, I’m not a medical professional either. That’s who should be advising you. Over in the US, the FDA has just approved Natural Cycles to commence marketing their product in the States. However, if you’ve seen Netflix’s Bleeding Edge, you may question just how much that actually means. Ironically, Bayer is not painted in a very good light throughout that documentary but they did speak some sense when I reached out to them for comment on this new contraceptive method:

There is a wealth of contraception options currently available. When an individual is making a decision about which contraception option will best suit their current needs it is important to consult a healthcare professional. Healthcare professionals are the most reliable source of information, as they are actively involved in contraceptive counselling and can provide tailored support.

FIFA 19: New Features and Irish Release Date

Marty
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FIFA 19: New Features and Irish Release Date

Update: Read my full review of FIFA 19

As a sports-loving gamer, there are a few big dates on my calendar every year. Football Manager, Formula 1 and FIFA are games which get annual updates which naturally means they also take large lumps of my life every year too. Fresh off the back of the World Cup and with the Premier League season right around the corner, we don’t have long to wait for the latest instalment of the FIFA franchise. Here’s what to expect from FIFA 19.

FIFA 19 Will Feature the UEFA Champions League

Would you believe, back when I was in college, our gaff was a Pro Evolution Soccer house. The game boasted superior controls and gameplay to FIFA at the time although you had to live with made up team names and lots of lookalike logos. This was down to licensing but still, PES has been the reason the FIFA franchise was unable to integrate the UEFA Champions League into what is now clearly, the most popular footy game on the market.

PES has wained in recent years and I haven’t heard of anyone playing it in a long time. Coinciding with this is FIFA finally bringing the UEFA Champions League to their 2019 game. Yup, FIFA 19 will have the Champions League. This is awesome news as you’ll now be able to lead your favourite clubs to Champions League. FIFA 2019 will also feature the Europa League and the Super Cup along with a new commentary team specifically for these European games.

Alex Hunter Returns

We first met Alex Hunter in FIFA 17. Hunter is a young, up and coming footballer whose career you take control of. You train him, build up his skills and make decisions in his life to decide how it all pans out. It’s a surprisingly addictive area of the game with fairly compelling storylines too. I say surprisingly because once you get hooked with online gameplay, it’s tough to go back to playing the computer. For some reason, playing Hunter’s career has always been fun for me.

In FIFA 19, Hunter is off to Real Madrid to chase down a Champions League dream. EA Sports flexed their muscles a bit and showed off their influence in the football world by hijacking Real Madrid’s third-kit launch, a kit which is fantastically made out of plastic recovered from the ocean. Official Real Madrid social media accounts and Read Madrid players helped make this look like an incredibly authentic transfer.

I can only assume at least on Real Madrid fan has been left wondering who the hell Alex Hunter is.

Timed Finishing

Tweaking the shooting system is always a brave move from EA Sports. When the shooting system changes, so too do the elite players of the game. Everything that you were familiar with goes away and you need to relearn FIFA’s sweet spots. FIFA 19 will introduce the idea of timed finishing. Like all games so far, you tap shoot when you see your goal scoring opportunity. Then you tap again to try and find a sweet spot for your shot.

Naturally, it’s risk and reward, so get this wrong and you’ll barrel your shot up into row Z.

While I’ve yet to play FIFA 19, I know how this kind of system feels. If you’ve ever played Gears of War, I imagine this time finishing system will be very similar to the Gear of War reloading system where you tap to reload and then tap again during the sweet spot to load even faster.

Dynamic Tactics

Ah the days of four-four-two. They are so far behind us. Football has an impossible number of tactic configurations, yes over the past few years when playing online you’d have to be able to react quick to setbacks, often within a thirty second window. FIFA 19 introduces Dynamic Tactics which means you can prepare a few ideas before you start your game and then quick-select this during the game. Reacting like a real gaffer is key to success in FIFA 19; just look at how many gaffers they got involved in their promo:

FIFA 19 Demo Release Date in Ireland

Unfortunately, I’ve yet to see a confirmed demo date for FIFA 19. However, it usually launches two weeks ahead of the full game.

FIFA 19: Irish Release Date

FIFA 19 will be available to buy in Ireland on 28 September.

Dark Tourist: New on Netflix – Review

Marty
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Dark Tourist: New on Netflix – Review

We all know Netflix is more than capable of churning out a wide range of high-quality fiction, but their foray into factual and factual-ish programmes are also incredibly impressive. One of their latest efforts is called Dark Tourist. Here’s what I’ve thought about it so far.

What is Dark Tourism?

Some of us like to chill on a sunny beach while others might be more into foodie tours or seeing the landmarks of the world. Taking a break away from the daily grind is good for the soul. Dark Tourism, on the other hand, might not be so good for your mind. Instead of travelling for a clean wholesome holiday to recharge, Dark Tourists seek out locations of great tragedies or scenes of massive bloodshed. Like it or not, most of us do have a morbid curiosity lingering inside of us but we generally just don’t act on it.

David Farrier decided to act on his sense of morbid curiosity.

The Dark Tourist – David Farrier

New Zealander, David Farrier, takes on the role of the Dark Tourist for Netflix’s new docu-series. Farrier is kind of like a cooler Louis Theroux and I imagine many people are already confusing these two as they are quite similar. To be honest, it’s quite likely that the Netflix meeting to commission this show involved a research binge of Theroux’s work to date!

Regardless, Farrier is incredibly likeable which I feel is extremely important when you’re watching a one-man show like this. So now that you’re sold on him, here’s what the show is all about.

The Dark Tourist Documentary

If you’ve read this far you can probably put the pieces together. Farrier travels the world looking for locations with some dark histories.

Fukushima and the Nuclear Fallout

Locations such as Fukushima, now riddled with radioactivity after a 2011 tsunami led to a nuclear power plant explosion. Farrier and a bus full of fellow dark tourists drive through the nuclear fallout with Geiger counters beeping away, aggressively warning every one of the high radiation levels.

Cocaine and Murderers

Another trip sees Farrier visit Medellin in Colombia, the hometown of the infamous drug lord, Pablo Escobar. The access Farrier gets is incredible, meeting with Escobar’s former personal assassin who recounts tales of how Escobar insist the assassin kill his own girlfriend for betraying the druglord. The meeting is honest, dramatic and maybe even harrowing. Personally, it kind of sums up the series nicely for me.

Cows, Rocket Launchers and Cambodia

There are countless stories you hear and always wonder if they’re fact or fiction. One story I’ve heard is that you can pay to shoot a cow in Cambodia with a rocket launcher. Honestly, I heard this in the primary school playground and as I advanced in my years, I began to assume it was just a made up urban legend. Turns out, it’s very possible to do this.

This is just one example of the madness that Farrier unlocks throughout the series

The Dark Tourist – Now Streaming on Netflix – The Verdict

This is a great show. Farrier might seem a bit mad as he wanders around highly radioactive streets, eats atomic fish and swims in a creator formed from nuclear explosions – by the way, they were two different episodes. Dark Tourist is a great travel documentary for those of you who are sick and tired of people visiting the same old same old. Farrier is a bit of craic and seems to be more than happy to put his body on the line so you don’t have to. Good on ya mate.

Dark Tourist Trailer

 

Shazam: DC Universe’s Answer to Deadpool?

Marty
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Shazam: DC Universe’s Answer to Deadpool?

The Marvel versus DC battle that’s been raging over the course of the past few years has been fairly one-sided, in favour of Marvel. Their universe just seems to be a bit more craic compared to the grittier DC universe which has also suffered a few dud movies like Batman versus Superman. But at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, DC might just have unleashed their secret weapon

Meet Shazam

Marvel’s popularity soared when Deadpool entered the fray. The anti-hero was born as audiences showed when it came to superheroes they also wanted personalities they could enjoy. Deadpool delivered that in bucketloads. The DC universe kept things pretty straight-laced or at least they have until now.

DC has just announced Shazam will make the leap from comic bookshelves to the big screen. We’ve only seen an early trailer, but the movie will be based on foster kid Billy Batson who is granted superpowers by a wizard. Billy just utters the word ‘Shazam’ and his smartphone will find any song being played nearby.

Ok, clearly that’s a poor joke.

When he says ‘Shazam’ he becomes a superhero that doesn’t know his own superpowers. It looks like some of the laughs from the movie will be Shazam learning his powers:

shazam flight test gif

Shazam Movie Release Date

With no exact date available yet, you can expect Shazam to be in cinemas during Spring 2019.

Shazam Trailer

 

Mission Impossible: Fallout Review – Impossibly Enjoyable

Marty
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Mission Impossible: Fallout Review – Impossibly Enjoyable

Ethan Hunt has been trekking the globe for twelve years now, saving us all from the brink of disaster without us ever knowing. There’s barely a cinemagoer that isn’t familiar with the iconic roof decent that started the Mission Impossible series but the latest instalment, Mission Impossible: Fallout, is arguably the best one yet. Here’s my spoiler-free review of Tom Cruise’s latest blockbuster.

The Jist

After locking up a madman and that madman escapes custody, Hunt takes it on himself to put the man away again. The movie surrounds three plutonium cores, sought after to create three dirty bombs and Hunt’s journey to try and stop their detonation.

That’s a very rough and ready version of the story and I’ll admit right now it doesn’t do it justice. Mission Impossible: Fallout is bloody fast-paced and shoots around the world accordingly – including a very strange stopover in Belfast. I’m half afraid to say anything more because, as I mentioned, this is a spoiler-free review.

Let’s move on.

The Cast

There are two things which make the Mission Impossible franchise pop:

  • The action
  • The cast

The Cast

Earlier instalments perhaps depended on the action more than the cast, but now the cast steals it for me. As we’re six movies deep, we’ve been getting to know Hunt and his team for quite some time; and now you feel a little attached – the lineup absolutely makes the film. What adds to this is that they’re a bit of craic.

While his pet projects are brilliant and playing Scotty in Star Trek likely top his list of achievements, Simon Pegg is brilliant in Mission Impossible as a reluctant hero. Ving Rhames plays the perfect gentle giant while newcomer Henry Cavill fits the bill to a tee. He’s also inspired what is almost certainly going to be my tache for Movember 2018:

Henry-cavill-mission-impossible

Mission Impossible has never taken itself too seriously, but Fallout walks that line between entertainment and madness closer than ever, but it does so perfectly.

The Action

With that said about the cast, the action has to get the most attention because Mission Impossible: Fallout has to be the most action riddled two and a half hours I’ve ever witnessed and that includes 4DX Jurassic Park!

Are some of the chases over the top? Absolutely. Are some of the escapes beyond belief? Most certainly. Does that matter? Not one bit. There’s something about this franchise that makes you celebrate the ludicrous. Personally, I think that goes all the way back to the descent from above into a secure room while dropping knives and beads of sweat.

I don’t know what it was about this movie but even though bits of it are predictable and crazy, even for a long-standing action series known for being crazy, it was thoroughly enjoyable. Hell, maybe it’s because of those reasons it’s so enjoyable.

There’s also Tom Cruise.

Cruise Control

Everything about Tom Cruise means I should dislike Tom Cruise. Well, there are two solid reasons why I should not like Tom Cruise. The first is obvious; he’s a scientologist. The second is his non-symmetrical teeth. I’m sorry, but I’m going to show you this and now you will not be able to unsee it. Tom Cruise has a middle tooth.

tom cruise middle tooth

Ok, that’s a pretty crappy reason to not like him, but scientology alone should be legit. Yet, I love him as an actor. It kills me. I loved him in American Made and only recently watched Jerry Maguire; it took me until the credits to realise I was watching a romantic comedy on my own.

In Mission Impossible, he’s electric and there’s simply no doubt the series would have died a long time ago if it wasn’t for the Cruise subplot; he does all his own stunts.

Tom Cruise: Stuntman

I don’t think it’s much of a secret that Cruise does all his own stunts and even broke his ankle leaping from one ceiling to another in London while shooting Missions Impossible: Fallout. This leads to something very weird and adds another layer of entertainment. Every time Cruise is jumping around the place you have to wonder – is he doing that stunt? Is that CGI? He’s hardly doing that, is he?

Well, chances are, he is. And there’s something very entertaining about that. You know what, I think that’s the reason Mission Impossible: Fallout could be the surprise hit amongst audiences this summer. It’s just good old-fashioned entertainment.

The Verdict

Mission Impossible probably never really took itself too seriously, but Fallout has found the perfect balance between serious action and hilarious entertainment. This is arguably the best Mission Impossible movie to date and has found the perfect balance between serious action, ridiculous escapes and funny one-liners. This is two and a half hours of death dodging lunacy. It doesn’t apologise for it and that’s why it’s great.

You’ll laugh, you’ll flinch, you probably won’t cry but you’ll almost certainly leave the cinema happy enough with how you just spent an hour and a half.

Mission Impossible: Fallout Trailer

 

Google Fined €4.3 Billion by EU

Marty
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Google Fined €4.3 Billion by EU

The EU has fined Google €4.3 billion for forcing mobile phone manufacturers to install Google Play and Google Chrome on new smartphones.

A Google spokesperson has said:

Android has created more choice for everyone, not less. A vibrant ecosystem, rapid innovation and lower prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition. We will appeal the Commission’s decision.

More to follow…

How did tech help Croatia reach the World Cup Final

Jon
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How did tech help Croatia reach the World Cup Final

So that’s it the World Cup is done and dusted. While France took home the trophy it was another team who stole our hearts. Little Croatia with a population similar to ourselves managed to reach the final. Imagine if that was Ireland? We still wouldn’t have gone back to work. Now fair enough they have some of the best players on the planet in Modric and co but with a population and a small supply of players they knew something else was required to reach those lofty heights. The solution you ask? Embrace technology.

All about them STATS

Sure enough technology in sports is nothing new. Nowadays it might be common for teams to have video analysts but only Croatia used STATS to give them the competitive edge.

STATS are a Chicago based company who recently opened a new office in the countries sports capital – Yes, Limerick. Anyway, this lot have been tracking football data since the turn of the century similar to OPTA or any other name you might see on SkySports News. The difference between STATS and the rest is this, back in June they launched a new platform that uses artificial intelligence to analyse a team’s performance. This allows a team compare playing styles and conduct a game-changing set-play analysis. With this information, you can even predict how a team should react to a particular scenario based on their previous actions. I will say it now, with a new shiny Irish office they should be giving the FAI a nice deal so we aren’t forced to watch anything like the Danish Demolition all over again.

The Tool

Image result for croatia world cup set piece

Ok, so what we have found out is that an analyst will usually take 5 hours to comb through the game. Not something you want with your local Junior B team. Thanks to the new AI, the computer will do all the hard work. Looking at this from a Croatian perspective that’s 5 fewer hours of watching Harry Maguire’s head doing what it does. These stats are so detailed and comprehensive that things like “expected goals” are taken into consideration as a way of showing chances where the forward has a better chance of scoring than the ‘keeper has of making the save.

Dr. Patrick Lucey, vice president of AI at STATS, explained to Bleacher Report.

“If you look at the broadcasts, the statistics that they show are useless. They don’t tell the full story and are not predictive of a team winning. I normally use the example of the World Cup semi-final in 2014. Germany won 7-1, but if you look at the statistics, Brazil had more shots, more dangerous chances. Yet Germany won 7-1.”

Sending England Home

Image result for harry maguire memes

We all got a good chuckle with all of the “it’s coming home’ memes. While this year’s England team are a bit more palatable than teams of the past, weren’t we all glad when Croatia put them on their hole?
 
Well for anyone who watched the game people think England bottled it in the first half and couldn’t regain their composure. However, thanks to STATS and the insights Croatia had available to them it is far more likely that they found a way to nullify the English threat and make them vulnerable.

“And what they were really effective on was the high press. They did a lot of that and maintained the ball a lot. They weren’t much into direct play or crossing. That tended to be their style across the Cup. However, if you look at the game against Croatia, they had less possession, and in terms of their playing style, they went direct a hell of a lot of times.

England's use of possession football and a high press in the tournament pre-Croatia.

England’s use of possession football and a high press in the tournament pre-Croatia.STATS Edge

England's switch to a more direct game against Croatia.

England’s switch to a more direct game against Croatia.STATS Edge

This is the kind of data has been used for American sports such as basketball or American Rounders (I know it has a real name and I don’t care, it’s rounders). While American sports have used data heavily for years, this is something new to the soccer arena. While some might argue that preparation to the fine details might ruin the romance of sports, this is not the case as the players still need to implement the results. In a World Cup preparation is key. With traveling, resting, media work and the rest the reality is that there is only so much time people have to tinker. This is where a dynamic tool like STATS can come into its own.

Technology in football is not here to replace humans, it merely facilitates us to make better decisions based on the information given to us by the platform.

Is this the future of footy?

Image result for stats edge

Quite possibly yes. The company as we mentioned earlier are expanding and with a new office based in Ireland. Their goal will be to get working with more European clubs and athletes in the near future. The STATS Edge interface looks so clean and simple with each piece of data linked back to a video for human observation.

Literally take the surprise out of the game, that’s a Martin O’Niell philosophy if we ever saw one. While Croatia may have been underdogs throughout the competition, drive, passion, some talent and a little help from technology helped them punch well above their weight. Now if only Ireland could start doing the same, that would be great.

 

What Does Xiaomi Entering the Irish Market Mean For You?

Goosed.ie Team
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What Does Xiaomi Entering the Irish Market Mean For You?

You might have seen that we’ve talked in depth about the expansion of Asian smartphone companies and their arrival in Ireland, with Xiaomi being the most recent example. Xiaomi as a company adds a whole lot to the Irish smartphone market and their continued existence is what keeps some manufacturers pushing to achieve the next big thing. When a company can undercut you in costs every step of the way, the only way to beat them is to innovate. Since 2010, the European website xiaomi.eu officially works with the company and as such representatives have put out an appeal looking for potential Irish consumers and what they value in a smartphone.

We want to ask you, our readers, to tell us what exactly it is you want from your smartphone. Do you go for high-end offerings from the likes of Samsung and Apple, or would you rather not break the bank and go for cheaper alternatives? What is it that you use your smartphone for most? These are the kinds of questions that Xiaomi is looking to have answered so that they can successfully enter the Irish market in the best way possible.

To answer, jump onto Facebook and comment under this post or head on over to Twitter using the hashtag #XiaomiIreland.

What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi’s arrival in Ireland and what could they do better to best enter the market? Would they best benefit from launching their TV boxes here, their Android tablets or their Android smartphones? The Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 recently released, a high-end Android tablet that you can use for multimedia consumption and gaming. These are the kind of things that the company is attempting to get information on.

I’m personally looking forward to the arrival of Xiaomi to the Irish market. Amid privacy concerns from Chinese based smartphone companies, some may remain sceptical. These companies are not after your data and companies such as Xiaomi actually profit from their other divisions more – their cheap smartphones are simply a way of getting their name out. We’ve already seen how stunning the Huawei P20 Pro is so we could very well be heading towards a smartphone renaissance.

So let us know what you think, and what it is you value most in a smartphone. We’ll be relaying your feedback over to Xiaomi, so have at it!

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