Euro 2008 is the most exciting sporting event outside of the World Cup. Yeah, I said it. You can keep your Super Bowls and World Series’ and Stackley Cups - the major soccer tournaments have those all beat. However, if you’re thinking of flying your team’s flags out your window (a lot of Chargers fans do this in San Diego, as well, so it’s not actually soccer-exclusive), you might want to consider the extra fuel you’ll be burning to do so.

The Guardian, possibly a bit bitter that England lost to Croatia of all teams to be kept out of the Euro 2008, notes that flying flags out your window to support your team can waste a considerable amount of gas.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

“The First Time I Every Saw Your Face” May Be the First Time You Hear About Ewan MacColl

California’s Gay Marriage Ban Overturned & 5 Ways To Take Action

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Nicole Hughes:

“Bottlemania” Book Takes Bottled Water Industry To Task

Arnold Tells Automakers To “Stop Whining” About Tougher California Emissions Standards

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Andy Kondrat:

Department of Energy Forecasts Large Increase In Wind Power Usage

Edward Norton & Gavin Newsom Speak To Congress About Environmental Building Practices

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Jon Popham:

Spencer Tunick Strips Hundreds Naked

Lichtenstein Sculptures At Fairchild Garden In Miami

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Giulia Rozzi:

Does Being Ethical Pay?

Is the Anti-Female Genial Mutilation Campaign Offensive?

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Gina Telaroli:

A Global Look At Media On Pangea Day

Everything Cinema: Brody Takes On the Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard

Spencer Tunick stripped hundreds of willing participants naked over the weekend for a new photography installation shot in Austria. The American photographer, who has taken nude to a whole new level, snapped photos of 1,800 disrobed subjects in an Austrian soccer stadium that will play host to this year’s 2008 Euro Cup Finals. Tunick arranged the subjects throughout areas of the stands, having been prohibited from using the grass playing field due to official’s concerns about wear and tear. According to the photographer’s website:

“This very special ephemeral installation that we are inviting you to be part of is devised to capture and combine the spirit of sports, the grand sweeping waves of stadium architecture and the abstract relation of the human form to modern structures,”

It is indeed one of this writer’s great regrets to have not taken an invitation to appear in Tunick’s 1997 installation in Times Square, NYC seen above. At the time the photographer’s works were much more guerilla-style affairs, which involved the invitees showing up in robes at 5AM at the selected location, and quickly stripping and running out into the street for the shots like a (literal) flash mob. Since then both Tunick’s fame and the scale of his work has grown immensely, to the point where his 2007 Mexico City - Zocalo, MUCA/UNAM Campus installations (shown below) included upwards of 18,000 subjects.

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It’s quite difficult to hold back tears and vomit as I read the disgusting report of a 73-year-old man in Austria who confessed to holding his daughter captive in his home cellar for nearly 24 years and fathering seven children by her! WTF!?

The father, called Mr. F, lived upstairs with his oblivious wife Rose F while his captive daughter and three of their kids remained locked in the basement! Again, in case you didn’t catch that, Rose F lived above four of her husbands prisoners and never noticed a thing!?

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If you’re looking for a way to learn how Europeans feel about their country and their continent, who better to ask than filmmakers from each and every country in the European Union. Well back in 2004 somebody did just that and Visions of Europe came to be. For the series, one prominent filmmakers from each EU country was asked to make a 5 minute film on “the current state of Europe.”

The directors included Austria’s Barbara Albert, Germany’s Fatih Akin, Finland’s Aki Kaurismaki Denmark’s Christoffer Boe, The UK’s Peter Greenaway and the Netherlands Theo van Gogh What resulted was a telling look at the political and personal landscape of Europe since the EU came to be.

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