Alfie -- Did you Learn Something?

Interesting

Again, a long weekend for DVDs. I just borrowed several DVDs from Raymond. Alfie was one of them.

For a start, Jude Law is one handsome dude. I never saw another movie of his after Gattaca, which he starred alongside the now separated couple Ethan Hawke & Uma Thurman. Alfie is a humourous & sexy limo driver cum womanizer living in NY, leading the dangerous lifestyle of screwing a woman too many.

Alfie isn't your usual movie, it comprised of some mind-boggling philosophies & it's kinda difficult to understand Alfie's mindset & the way he sees things. With several woman revolving around his life, it's hard not to falter. The biggest mistake was screwing Lonette (played by Nia Long), his best friend; Marlon's beau. Lonette got pregnant & lied about the abortion & moved outta country with Marlon to avoid him. Marlon & Lonette certainly didn't expect Alfie to visit, but he did & the reality did get to him when he saw the baby.

Alfie realised the dreadful mistake & the wayward lifestlye he led. He too finds out that he haven't got anyone to talk to. Alas, he ended up talking to the elderly man he met at the hospital's restroom, Joe. The latter listened & reminded him to find someone he loves & live everyday like it's the last. What wise words indeed.

Well, i guess it's exciting to lead the dangerous & exciting lifestyle Alfie had. But if you put things into perspective, what do you have in the end? Love, nope! Friendship, nope! Companionship, nope! You virtually have nothing to look forward to, wouldn't that be too sad?

Always think before you take a step or i should say, a major step in your life. You can never turn back time or press the rewind button in your life. You gotta live with your decisions & accept whatever setbacks you encountered later due to your decisions. It's the test of life that all of us have to contend with.

More DVDs please, it sets me thinking.

Reign in Hell -- William Diehl

Good Read

I've been reading lately, legal thrillers are still my favourite. I guessed i finished Reign in Hell 2 weeks ago, during my week's leave. It's the 3rd instalment of William Diehl's trilogy on Martin Vail & Aaron Stampler. The first being Primal Fear, which was adapted into a motion picture starring Richard Gere as Martin Vail & Edward Norton as Aaron Stampler. Oh, I love that one. The second was Show of Evil, no adaption though.

Reign in Hell wasn't as focused on courtroom action as the first 2, it's more politics & more talk about terroism. Vail was appointed the Assistant AG of the States to help bring a RICO case against a religious cult leader using the churches as a front to plot the downfall of the President of the United States.

Well, I was expecting a lot more action from Vail & maybe the 'fight' between Stampler & himself intensifying. But it turned out that Stampler played only a small part in the story. Though a little disappointing & the finale didn't blow me away, it was a good read. But, certainly not Diehl's best.


Hmm...Impressive

I finished Jury of One last night. I was certainly impressed.

Well, for a start; i haven't heard of David Ellis. I knew it's a legal thriller though, from the brief synopsis at the back of the book. It was a little boring at the beginning as it traces Shelly's past memories of being raped, her son which she gave up for adoption & her strained relationship with her dad because of the son she had out of wedlock.

It started getting interesting when she took on the case for Alex, whom is alleged of shooting a police officer in the face & is accused of being a drug pusher. The courtroom action towards the end was absorbing & definitely unexcepted. Then, there's the revelation in court that Ronnie (Alex's brother, no blood relations though; they were adopted) is her son (she had believed Alex earlier that he's her son) & the dead police officer was the rapist! How dramatic can it get.

Ellis is certainly the new kid on the block & it helps that he writes well too. With a good plot in mind, he could be the next Grisham. Go visit his website to learn more, I'm getting the next Ellis' book.
http://www.davidellisbooks.com/


Can't wait for the paperback

In case you didn't know, Grisham has a new book; The Broker.

I saw the hardcover book at Kinokuniya last week, i can't wait for the paperback to be published. The hardcover would be too expensive & heavy to carry around.

Mikalah Gordon Voted Off (Finally)

Finally, justice done (she should have gone last week)

It's final, Mikalah Gordon is outta American Idol.

She should have been voted off last week, before Lindsay Cardinale. She was the worst performer for the past 2 weeks. Her version of "Love will Lead You Back" was off-key a couple of times & she can't seem to be able to reach the high notes.

To quote Simon Cowell, "her ambition exceeds her ability".

It's Just Senseless

I just don't get how one thing can lead to another & so much bad feelings can surface just by a simple comment, read this...http://shellylives.blogspot.com/2005/03/xiaxues-supporter-sucks.html

No no no, i'm not on anyone's side. But It's just kinda surprising to see countless people standing up for XX against her pool of critics. Well, i mean; how well do these people know XX personally? Like having chatted with her, been out with her for a dinner/movie. All we know about her is that she's a star blogger whom has just scored an endorsement deal with Localbrand & is negotiating another deal with a camera company (read the damn tabloid, TNP). It's great for her, being able to earn a decent living by blogging & even achieve celebrity status instantly. It's just unbelievable.

Yeah, who doesn't get jealous over such success acheived by a blogger; especially when you are one too?

You may like XX or even admire her, but that doesn't warrant or grant you the right to "slam" the people whom doesn't support her views & see things differently from her. Why resort to name-calling & start behaving like primary school children -- when your friend pushes you & you must definitely push him back TWICE as hard?

Why, i just don't see the purpose of "revenge"? What do you gain? Does name-calling make you a better person? By slamming the person whom had dissed XX, do you feel like you have done justice for XX? Who's to see that & why go through the trouble?

I admit that i have been to www.therealantixiaxue.blogspot.com & even left comments, but it was all done in the name of fun, no harm done. I didn't call XX a bitch, a liar, idiot, ugly witch, disgusting. Likewise, i don't think anyone should be hurling abuses at Shelly either.

It's just so senseless, what do you get? Satisfaction, Accomplishment...???

Susan & Patrick Eliminated from the Race

Mother & Son tag-team Eliminated

Another unbelievable week on TAR, Rob/Amber came in top again; despite being the 5th team to leave the pit stop. Simply mind-boggling.

The 5 teams (Lynn/Alex, Uchenna/Joyce, Ron/Kelly, Brian/Gregg & Rob/Amber) that departed first were fighting to reach the pit stop in the 1st place & the last 3 teams (Ray/Deana, Meredith/Gretchen & Susan/Patrick) that left later were trying to avoid elimination, due to a flight plan that scheduled the 2 flights to depart 5 hrs between them.

Rob/Amber caught up with the 4 teams ahead of them & managed to board the 1st plane out to Argentina. The mere facial expressions of the other 4 teams were priceless, they weren't expecting them; obviously.

It would definitely be sick to see Rob/Amber win a million again. But, judging from the good luck they have had; it's hard not to imagine them winning The Amazing Race. Hopefully, they 6 teams left would run a better race than them & not fall prey to Rob's ruse.

Liverpool Tops Everton in Exciting Derby

Captain Gerrard & Garcia Lifts Pool

Woah, unbelievable match. If you watched it too, you would agree with me.

Injuries to Warnock, Hamman & Morientes (all in the first half) forced Rafael Benitez to change his game plans & brought on Nunez, Biscan & Smicer. Captain Gerrard gave Pool the lead with a opening goal in the 27th min & Garcia added another within the next 5 mins & Pool went into half-time 2-0 up at Anfield.

Liverpool could have sealed victory at Anfield much earlier, if not for serveral missed chances by Milan Baros. Baros was hardworking & ran all over the field. However, a senseless tackle earned him a immediate red card & headed to the dressing room for an early shower in the 77th min.

Everton was given a lifeline with Pool down to 10 men & pulled a goal back in the 82nd min. Though Everton launched a last minute bid to snatch the equaliser, Pool defended their slender lead & emerged victorious in the 201st derby.

Pool lifted themselves over Bolton into the 5th spot & moved themselves within 4 pts behind Everton. They have to beat Bolton this coming Saturday & hope that Everton loses their match on Sunday, away at West Brom.

A miracle seems to be surfacing for Pool.

This is just Funny & I had to post it

http://alwaysred.blogspot.com/2005/03/difference-between-arsenal-manu-and.html

Liverpool vs Juventus for Champions League Quarter-final


Tough draw, hope Liverpool prevails.....!!!
Two legs of quarter-final in April....

Haha, So Funny !!

Eileen with the Red Luggage

Haha, it's so funny.

That's my colleague, Eileen. I was with her at Chinatown last evening to get her specs done & she needed to get a luggage that can contain her stuff for the 1 month Europe trip in May, i'm so so so envious.

At the optical shop, she tried at least 50 pairs of specs; just to determine the color of the frame & shape of the lenses. The boss was so patient with her & was very honest. Eileen had earlier wanted another set of frames that would set her back by $400. But, after i saw the other type of frame which was real nice & only costs 1/4 of the earlier set, the boss didn't try to "hard-sell" the more expensive pair. It was nice, in the end; she only paid $170 for the new specs; which i thought was really reasonable. I will definitely go there if i need another pair of specs.

Ok, then we went to see the luggage she wanna get. She didn't want the old-fashioned type, she wanted a functional yet fashionable one. So we compared prices between 2 stores & got a real cool deal at the 1st shop we went to. She only paid $173 for the red luggage (see pic), which was a good deal; considering the original price was at $289.

Here comes the funny part, you would have thought that we would be taking a cab home since we were carrying such a big luggage bag. That's what i thought too, but nope; it ain't happening. We were unable to get a cab outside the building & decided to take a bus instead, since Eileen stays in Bugis; it's just a few stops away. Haha, imagine the stares & funny looks she got when she lugged the big red luggage onto the bus; Eileen was feeling damn embarrassed.

Luckily for us, the bus was pretty empty....haha! That's the 1st & last time I'll accompany her to do that, no way it's gonna happen again.

Husky Voice Lindsay Voted off AI First

Lindsay didn't deserve to go as much as Mikilah!!

Ok, Lindsay got voted off this week on American Idol. But i thought Mikilah was the worst. Well, perceptions & judgements vary.

In all, it was a boring night. Perhaps the only ones whom took their chances were Nadia, Vonzell, Scott & Nikko. Nikko didn't do so bad with the pressure on him being labelled a sub. for Mario.

Hope Mikilah leaves next week.

Competitive Debbie & Bianca Eliminated from TAR

Debbie & Bianca Eliminated - Lost their way

The only all-girl team got eliminated this week on TAR.

Damn, it must have been so disappointing for Debbie & Bianca. They were running a good race for the previous legs. They got lost on the way, while driving themselves to the route marker. They were heading in the wrong direction for a good 2 hours.

Though Debbie did overcome her fear of rafting at the Detour & unbelievably chowed down 4 pounds of meat at the Road Block, it wasn't enough to bring them from last place & they got eliminated eventually.

Ok ok, I'm so impressed with Rob. I know he's scheming, manipulative & played dirty on Survivor. But i never thought he could use those skills on TAR. It was like watching Survivor all over again.

Not only did he take the 4-hour penalty when he chose to quit the Road Block, he managed to wriggle his way outta last place finish (given the penalty) by persuading Ray/Deana to take the penalty as well. That would ensure Amber & himself to finish above Ray/Deana. What surprised me most was the level of compliance Ray/Deana showed towards Rob's suggestion. Didn't they even think for a moment that they could be finishing dead last if all the other teams manage to finish the Road Block before their 4-hour penalty expires? Woah, the magic of Boston Rob!

I can't wait to see what other tricks Rob has to offer, this is by far the most Amazing Race i have seen & though sometimes i feel the methods were despicable; but hell, Rob makes the race so much more interesting.

Mario Vazquez QUITS America Idol !!! Nikko IN !!!

Mario Vazquez QUITS Idol

http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/american_idol/

I don't believe this, someone actually quits American Idol. Is this for REAL?
Apparently, it's true. Mario cited personal reasons for quitting the show & there are speculations that he's being offered a recording deal or hiding a skeleton in the closet.

Well, i figured we wouldn't know the real reason behind his quitting & there's no point speculating; unless Mario really wants to make public of the "personal reasons" he cited.

Nikko Smith is back in the Final 12 to fill his spot as he received the 2nd lowest no. of votes from last week's show. Ok, Nikko must be under alot of pressure; having to be Mario's "replacement" in the most undesirable situation.

Hopefully, he can make good of this lucky break & go on to win the title of American Idol. But, it would definitely be difficult to overcome the talent/voice quality & fan base of Anwar Robinson & Bo Bice.

Let's wait & see.

Megan & Heidi Eliminated from TAR 7

Megan & Heidi lost by seconds

Blondies Megan & Heidi lost by seconds on a foot-race to the Pit-Stop to brother, Brian & Greg.

Rob & Amber cruised to a 1st place finish during this leg of the race. They were in a conspiracy with Ron/Kelly & Ray/Deana. They pooled their $ together to bribe the bus driver to ONLY open the door in front to alight them from the bus first & managed to gain a slight advantage over the other 7 teams.

I don't know about you, but i never imagine TAR to be this "dirty". Probably, with the inclusion of Rob/Amber this season; they added the Survivor factor into the race. They plotted, allied & withheld information from the other teams. Well, you may say that it's a race & all of them wanna win the million dollars at the end. But, such tactics & tricks are a first in TAR.

Anyway, keep watching & be prepared for more surprises. Per the preview trailer, Rob/Amber continues to "play dirty" & stole Debbie/Bianca's cab next week. It makes it exciting, but the sportsmanship element is lost, that's how i feel.

Nikko didn't Deserve to be Voted Off

Pity, pity....Nikko Smith

It was such a pity that Nikko didn't make it to the Final 12, he was way way better than Scott & definitely Constantine. The latter had everything a pop star should be, but the voice. He's just like another bubblegum pop singers, he should do very well in a boyband. But, considering his age, he couldn't make the cut too. Hah !

I thought Constantine & Travis should have been voted off this week. But, i'm not American, i can't vote. Probably the Americans see something in Constantine which i don't see. It's just a BIG pity.

In all, i seriously feel that this is the year for the guys. Either Anwar or Bo would win this, if America vote accordingly to talent & voice quality. They are both awfully original & sounded just like recording artistes, if not better. The only female contender would be Jessica Sierra, she's the only lady whom can pose a threat to the guys. I wouldn't be surprised if the Final 4 are all guys.

Keep watching.

Bayer Leverkusen 1 - 3 Liverpool

6 - 2 on aggregate, Pool through to Final 8 (Hyypia, Biscan, Riise & Garcia Overjoyed)

Liverpool made it through to the quarterfinals of Champions League, by beating Bayer Leverkusen 1 - 3 in Germany on Wednesday (Thursday morning, Singapore time).

It was a magnificent display by the team, owing to the fact that they were missing many key players due to injuries. Youngster Stephen Warnock got the chance to play in this important match due to an injury to Traore. He put up a decent performance & might probably earn more of such 1st team football.

2 great strikes from Luis Garcia in the 1st half from corners were enough to settle the tie. Milan Baros added a third in the second period & a late consolation goal from Leverkusen set up the final scoreline of 1 - 3.

Wonderful win by the Reds, they could be meeting Lyon in the quarterfinals; tough games ahead. Hopefully, they will do well in the Champions League & shut some critics up.

THE REDS ROCKS.....!!!

Ladder 49

Ladder 49 : Great Movie & Acting from the leads

It's been a long time since I last seen such a touching story. Okay, I'm on a week's leave from work & i can afford the time to watch DVDs....haha!

I missed Ladder 49 when it was screened at the cinemas, my sisters & friends were telling me how great & touching the show was. I just didn't get to see it. But it's ok, i still got to see it on DVD & it still has the same effects, great story & absolutely touching.

It was particularly hard to hold back tears when Jack (Joaquin Phoenix) was trapped in the building & there's no way his mates could come forth & get him out. He was brave till the very end & those last words he muttered to Mike, his chief (John Travolta) were so touching & my tears just came flowing down.

In all, it was a great movie with exceptional acting from the actors & actresses; whether they had a major or minor role in the movie. Hope to see more of such shows in the near future.

But for now, I shall continue with my DVDs.

Newcastle 1 - 0 Liverpool

Lost Again on Magpies ground

We lost again, this time to Newcastle.

Just how many of such losses can we take, we can't afford any now. Everton is still in 4th place above us with a huge lead. Any losses now would mean no place for us in the Champions League next season.

Hopefully, the Reds can buck up & stage an upset against Bayer Leverkusen next week in Germany.

The Amazing Race 7

So, the show did start with a bang. With the 11 teams heading for Lima, Peru. Early alliance formed between Debbie/Bianca & Susan/Patrick. They ended up being the first 2 teams this week.

The celebrity team, Survivor sweethearts; Rob/Amber ran an amazing race, as Phil put it. They were the last to leave for the airport for the flight to Lima. Ironically, Rob had problem popping the car's truck. It was hilarious. Luckily for them, they managed to get a fellow American in Lima to guide them along the way & stayed among the top 3. They were easy hate targets of the other 10 teams; citing the reason that they had already won a million on Survivor; they would be disgusted to see them win another on TAR. Then beat them in their game & stop BITCHING about it!

Some teams got to a lousy start, like Uchenna/Joyce & Megan/Heidi. They made mistakes earlier in the game & were lucky to stay in the Race. But, I'm sure they would bounce back & show the rest the better side of them.

The old couple, Meredith/Gretchen surprised me with a sixth place finish amongst the 11 teams. Not that the old are weak, but they are generally slower & fare worse in terms of physical tasks. Kudos to the couple!

Of course there would be teams in romantic relationships. There's Ron/Kelly, the former beauty queen & POW of the US-led Iraq war. Amazing courage of Ron to survive through the hardships during his capture. Then, there's Ray/Deana. They are said to be dating on & off, what's that supposed to mean? It's either ON or OFF, i don't about you, but i hate indecisive people.

Ok, no eye candy this season; like Derek/Drew from the earlier season. But I thought Brian looked pretty cool. Ok ok, it's only the first impression; maybe i'll grow to hate him later in the Race. Also, there's Lynn/Alex; the gay couple. There are cute & funny. I thought they would suffer a penalty for not taking the ricksaw to the beach, apparently not.

Alas, it was Chuck/Ryan eliminated first from the Race. They lost out on a foot-race against Ron/Kelly. Sad to see them go, they looked real tough & would definitely give the other teams a run for their $$.

Okay, my rundown of the 11 teams. May Wednesday come sooner, can't wait.

Another 4 Voted off American Idol 4

Another 4 Idol hopefuls sent home

Aloha, David, Celena & Joseph were the 4 idol hopefuls voted off by America last week. Down to the final 16 hopefuls, America will vote off another 4 next week & you have your Final 12.

I thought Aloha, David, Celena & Joseph all did way better than Travis & Janay. I still don't get why Janay & Travis are still in the competition. Aloha may have picked the wrong song, but she oozes style & has lotsa potential, she's possibly another Jennifer Hudson (from AI3). Celena & David were kinda boring & i agree with the judges, they haven't be able to spring any surprises & make an impression. As for Joe, i guess his earlier performance pulled him down. He did okay this week, but his competitiors are too strong; except Travis.

If i can bring someone back to the Final 12, it would be Aloha. But, it's not gonna happen. No Wildcard Show this season.