Thursday, May 28, 2009

Summer

Talk about time flying by so fast. May's about to end. This means that school is once again about to start, which also means a lot more traffic on the roads once again.

To get ready for the new school year, my mom and I took my two nephews shopping for school supplies last Sunday. We went to National Bookstore in Shang Mall. It's been years since I was in grade school (can you tell? LOL) and I had completely forgotten that there are so many different types of notebooks - writing, composition, spiral, math, and music! My nephews weren't really too keen on shopping for school supplies - they wanted to get toys instead, big surprise there - but once we started they actually got quite into it. It was cool too coz for the first time, they were choosing their own stuff.

Of course, the start of the school year heralds the end of summer. Which sucks coz I haven't been to the beach yet! LOL I do have plans though. My high school friend Suzanne is planning a trip to the beach on the June 12 long weekend with some other high school friends. I am hoping that it doesn't rain then. Although to be honest, it's not like it hasn't been raining. I'm pretty sure more than a few summer holidays got screwed up in the last couple of months due to the very uncooperative weather. So at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. Lots of fun to be had anyways, even if it does rain.

One other cool thing about this season is that the major movie companies start churning out most of the year's major blockbusters during this time. Over the last five days, I've seen three movies - Star Trek, Angels and Demons, and Terminator Salvation and I enjoyed all of them (Terminator not as much as Star Trek and Angels and Demons, both of which I really loved).

The next big movie I'm waiting to see is Transformers 2. I had dinner last night with Me-ann, Joh, and Raffa in Eastwood and while we were there, we said we should try the premier cinema there - not really sure what it's called, but it's the one where you get refillable pop-corn and drinks and sit in a Lazyboy, I think. Of course, we all agreed that we had to really like the movie coz it costs about P300+, and it turns out we are all looking forward to seeing Transformers 2. It will be shown in Manila on June 24, during which time Che will be in town, so there will be more of us to enjoy the movie.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Teardrop by Massive Attack + Newton Faulkner's cover

Here's a song I really love. It's Teardrop by Massive Attack that came out about a decade ago already. It's such a cool, chill song.


video uploaded in youtube by user pavelmurdoc

I was doing a search of this song on youtube just to check out it's very intriguing video and I noticed several other cover versions of this song. I was interested in how the cover version would sound so I checked some of them out. Of the ones I listened to, the standout was this version by Newton Faulkner.


video uploaded in youtube by user gietube

I have to say, especially considering that Newton is doing his cover with just a guitar, it's pretty awesome!

Monday, May 18, 2009

A Centre Court Celebration in Wimbledon

So I didn't get to go to London to watch Steffi Graf play with Andre Agassi and against Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters. But I did get the next best thing - they showed the entire thing on Starsports last night!

It was a really interesting set of matches to watch. It was clear that all the players were worried to some degree at how they would be playing - obviously none of them wanted to embarrass themselves. But as it turned out, all of them lived up to the hype and delivered the goods. Kim was very consistent and her groundstrokes still carried immense weight - heck, she managed to outrally Andre a few times! Tim's volleys remain some of the best I have ever seen. Andre's hand to eye coordination was still phenomenal and he still had amazing precision in his shot placement.

And Steffi. Well, where do I begin? LOL First off, of all four players on court, she still seemed to have the perfect athletic body. You take one look at her and you wouldn't think she retired from tennis ten years ago. Her fitness level would still put most pro women tennis players to shame.

And so would her movement! In her heyday, she was known for her footwork, speed, and balance, and watching her chase balls all over the court and run around her backhand like in the old days. I seriously thought Kim would blow her off the court, especially with her powerful backhand, but Steffi managed to keep rallies going with her very precise and well-angled slice backhands. Her serve still had lots of weight on it too. She did score a few service winners and manage to set up points with it.

Of course, any discussion about Steffi will not be complete without mention of her forehand. It doesn't have as much weight as it used to - after all, she is 10 years older and hasn't played that level of tennis in years - but she still matched Kim's forehand and even got the better of her on several occasions. There weren't any match statistics, but I'm sure Steffi got a decent number of forehand winners in the match.

She eventually lost the match, 6-4, but when you consider that Kim is 25 and planning to mount a comeback and that a lot of tennis fans are expecting her to still do great things and win a few titles, 6-4 is definitely not a bad scoreline!

Watching Steffi play definitely made me wish I got to watch the Centre Court Celebration live. But even more than that, it made me wish she was still playing. She did have a smile on her face for virtually the entire match against Kim so it was clear that she enjoyed herself immensely. Hopefully that will give both her and Andre the idea to play more exhibition matches in the future. Which would definitely be a treat for tennis fans all over the world. Hopefully, I can get to see the next one (if there will be any...)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Self-boxing

My friend Onin sent me this youtube link and it got me laughing. Check it out!


video uploaded in youtube by user sylar1717

Since it was a clean hit, the question is, who gets the point? ;)

Monday, May 11, 2009

What a great start to the F1 season!

So there's a possibility now that the F1 drivers' championship gets passed on from one Brit to another. Last year's world champion, Lewis Hamilton, ended up ahead of everyone else, albeit barely, by winning five of the seventeen races of the season. Now, five races into the season, Jenson has won four races and placed third in the other one.

If he keeps up this pace, he is on track to become F1 world champion. Heck, if he keeps this up, he could end up with a season in the league of Michael Schumacher, who holds the record for the most race wins in a year (13 out of 17, unreal!).

*****

And since I'm talking F1, I have to mention my friend David. He's the one who turned me into a football fan when he took me to watch the England-Albania World Cup qualifier match in a sports pub in London back in 2001. I have now been keeping a close eye on F1 and have been watching a lot of races ever since I took David to watch the Singapore GP last September in Handlebar. So apparently, whenever I watch a sporting event with David in a sport bar, I end up becoming a fan of that sport LOL. Fun times!

A P1000 discount on my shoe purchase in Adidas

So I was in some kind of shopping mode last weekend, mainly coz I needed some new slacks for work. At some point in my shopping spree, I thought of looking for new white sneakers coz the ones I currently use are no longer as white and have started looking at bit shoddy. I swing by an Adidas store and try on these Adidas Porsche Design shoes and I decided I wanted to get them. The shoes I got kinda look like this photo except the stripes on mine are black:

When I tell the salesman that I was gonna purchase the shoes, he asks me if I was going for the trade in (apparently he was looking at the Aldo shoe box I had with me - yes, I got some new dress shoes as well) and I didn't immediately get it. As I head to the counter to make the payment, I see this sign that talks about this promo in all Adidas stores in Manila (or maybe the Philippines?) where you can trade in an old pair of sports shoes of any brand and that are in decent condition, and you get a discount. You get P500 if the shoes you are buying cost PHP1,500 to 2,999 and P1000 if they cost P3000 or more. The shoes you donate will go to the Pamulaan Center for Indigenous People's Education (read more about this foundation here).

Now I had a pair of old Nike cross trainers that I hadn't used in a while and which I now only use for Habitat for Humanity builds coz I don't mind if they get dirty. I figured I could trade those shoes in. I get P1000 off on my new shoe purchase and I get to help out the Pamulaan Center. So I ask the salesman if he can hold those shoes for me and I would just return with my old pair. He said he would.

So I managed to get rid of my old pair of trainers, get a new pair at a big discount, and hopefully help someone out in the process. A pretty nifty deal if you ask me! The promo lasts only until May 17 so if you've been thinking of getting new sports shoes, you might want to consider getting them in Adidas.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Sports in 4, 3, 2, 1...

Manchester United have only FOUR matches left this Barclays Premiere League season. And with three-point lead atop the league table (plus a game in hand), the odds of Liverpool taking the league championship this season are almost non-existent. Which is a shame since Liverpool started the season incredibly well, and are in such good form over the last couple of months (they just beat Newcastle 3-0, increasing the possibility of Newcastle being relegated. Sorry Newcastle fans..). For Liverpool to score the most unlikely upset, they need to win all four of their remaining games and Man Utd have to either lose two of their remaining matches or draw three. I will still hang on to that incredibly think glimmer of hope though. Come on, Liverpool!

*****

I turned into a bit of a fair-weather fan of F1 when I watched the Singapore GP last September in a sports bar with my friend David. Since then, I've kept an eye on F1, watching a couple of Grand Prixs along the way. And this season, I've gotten on the bandwagon in support of Jenson Button, who was won THREE of the first four races. To be fair, though, since I am a fairly new fan, I haven't really gotten behind anyone yet, although since most people I know are pro-Ferrari, my tendency is to root for the underdog. So Jenson it is, at least this season LOL. I am hoping though that he ends up atop the Drivers' Championship at the end of the season. Good luck, Jenson!

*****

TWO rounds is all the irresistible Manny Pacquiao needed to knock out Ricky Hatton in the highly anticipated Battle of East and West. That rout - no, utter demolition - has to be up there as one of the most lopsided of major sporting activities. As proud as I am of Manny, I kinda wish he was the greatest in another sport aside from boxing as I always feel sorry for the loser. Not only does he lose, he gets beaten up in the process. In any case, Pacquiao has truly lived up to his billing as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world and has made his country very, very proud. Go Manny!

*****

Rafael Nadal has now truly cemented himself as the world's number ONE tennis player. With five titles this year (with the Rome title coming just as I write this blog), the most of any player, he's distanced himself from Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray, who now all have a shot at the number 2 ranking in the next few months. Murray started the year off better than anyone else in terms of win-loss record, but Nadal has now pushed ahead of the pack due to the clay court season, winning his 30th match over Djokovic in the Rome final. Djokovic seems to have gained his the form that took him to the #3 ranking though, getting to the finals of the last two clay court tournaments he's played. He may just be Nadal's biggest threat in Roland Garros, but Rafa has to remain the odds-on favorite to take his fifth French Open title this year. Vamos, Rafa!

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Movie watching

So over the last few weeks, I've been able to get some time to catch a few films at the cinema. I figured that there are lots of movie theaters right next to both where I work and where I live. So in theory, I shouldn't be missing as many movies as I do.

So here's a quick recap of the films I've gotten to see recently:

Dragonball Evolution. I've been told by so many people that it wasn't a good movie and that it was getting such bad reviews so my expectations were quite low. So I ended up being one of the scant few people in the world who thought it was okay LOL. I'm guessing though that if you are a fan of the cartoon series, you won't be pleased with how movie didn't stay true to the storyline.

Monsters vs. Aliens. In true computer generated animation fashion, this was really fun to watch. Lots of really hilarious moments. The storyline is really basic, to make sure that the kids who watch it understand what's going on. But the humor is adult and it makes this movie perfect for the whole family.

Slumdog Millionaire. After its massive success in the recently concluded Hollywood awards season, I was really looking forward to see this film. I have to say I was quite let down. I didn't seem to connect with the lead character, at least not for the entire duration of the movie. Maybe it's also because I live in a third world country where I've seen, to some degree, the stuff that was depicted in the movie. So probably the impact it had on audiences from developed countries was lost on me.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Definitely worth watching, although I must've had such high expectations of the film that I ended up being slightly disappointed. I think it's the whole regeneration thing. The utter immortality of the regenerating characters in the TV Series Heroes has gotten me slightly put off by this ability, and in this X-Men Origins, Wolverine's regenerative abilities remind me a lot of the same power in Heroes. I do have to say though that in my opinion, Liev Schreiber gives the best performance in the film. He is utterly chilling and ominous as Sabretooth. Oh, and there's a final scene in the movie, similar to The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, but in all honesty, it's a useless scene and I felt cheated for having stayed all the way til the end of the credits for that one sh*tty clip LOL.

Still a few films I want to see, like "The Fast and the Furious 4". Hopefully I can get to see it before it disappears from theaters here.