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!

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...)

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? ;)

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.

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!

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.

A very successful run for charity

What a great way to start a weekend! Our Corporate Social Responsibility team at work and yesterday just held the "Run Forest Run, Kythe 3k lang" run-for-charity event in McKinley Hill. It was the first time we held this kind of run-for-charity event on the site-wide level (there have been two previous runs for charity but these were done on the department and sub-department level) and I'm very pleased to say that it was a brilliant success!

The organizers got there pretty early. I arrived at the site at 430am and the other organizers Wen, Zaza, Tiano, and Alvin were all there and had already helped in pitching 6 of the 7 tents. The other organizers Elaine and Carmela, as well as the rest of the volunteers (marshals, water station personnel, finish line checkers, etc) started coming in after, and by 6:30am practically all 91 runners were there, getting ready to run either 3, 5, or 10 kilometers. Since I was one of the organizers (and was also hosting the activity), I had to "organize" and as such, couldn't join the race.

We had two beneficiaries for this run-for-charity: Haribon and Kythe. Haribon is an environmental organization dedicated to the conservation of Philippine biodiversity. They are currently working on the Road to 2020, which aims to restore one million hectares of rainforest using native tree species by the year 2020. Kythe is an organization that aims to provide quality of life for pediatric patients by uplifting their spirits and strengthening hope in these patients and their families.

The funds for these two beneficiaries were raised through pledges that the volunteer runners would get from their friends and family for their run (exactly the same as how I do my annual marathon for a cause). With 91 runners, I'm crossing my fingers that we raised more than P150,000 for these two beneficiaries. We will only find out this coming week how much money was raised, so hopefully we meet our targets.

In any case, it was a great team effort. And with all the experience and information we gained through this exercise, I'm pretty sure our next run-for-charity will be an even bigger success. I can't wait! :)

An amazing week in Singapore

I just got back from Singapore for a few days of rest and relaxation with my many friends there.

Actually, there really wasn't a lot of rest and relaxation, but there certainly was a boatload of fun! From the few nights of bar hopping and solid drinking (such an expensive hobby in SG!!) to my return to The Mind Cafe to the movie-watching (I managed to see "Shinjuku Incident" and "Gran Torino" while I was there) to meeting up with my friends there (and meeting a few new ones while I was at it), my days in Singapore were pretty jam-packed as they always are.

I actually got to perform an impromptu, stripped performance of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside" in Timbre as well. The artist performing there, Michaela Therese, was a friend of my buddy Tim and he requested that I sing it while Michaela backed me up on keyboards. It turned pretty well.

The highlight of my trip though were the concerts that I saw while I was there. I got to watch Oasis on Sunday night in the Indoor Stadium and The Kaiser Chiefs in Fort Canning Park on Tuesday. I knew a few Oasis songs but I knew only one Kaiser Chiefs song so I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it. But strangely enough, as great as the Oasis gig was, I enjoyed the Kaiser Chiefs concert a whole lot more.

The Kaiser Chiefs' songs are so catchy that you can enjoy them even if you are hearing them for the first time. It certainly happened to me. And a lot of their songs have very easy-to-pick-up choruses with repeating lines that I actually managed to sing along with them, especially in "Na Na Na Na Naa" and "Oh My God" (Oh my God I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home). And the lead vocalist Ricky Wilson just had such an incredible presence on stage and an infectious energy that he had the entire crowd rocking out with him from the beginning. I was so into the concert that I have become an instant fan, and I'm now planning to get all their three albums.

So anyways, here's probably my current favorite song of theirs, Na Na Na Na Naa from the album Employment.


video uploaded in youtube by user sarcasmmister

I couldn't really find a better video of them performing this song (everything else I could find was taken from a shaky hand LOL) but you really do need to see them live to realize just how good they are. In fact, if they somehow end up anywhere near flying distance, I would be very willing to head over to see them perform again. I guess they didn't win a 2006 Brit Award for Best Live Act for nothing.

Definitely not the result I was after

This is so not good. Liverpool just lost to Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. What's worse, they lost in Anfield. And as if that wasn't bad enough, they just had to lose with a scoreline of 3-1. Sh*t.

The only way they can get through to the semis now is to beat Chelsea away and by a better score than 3-1. It's a two-goal difference but if Liverpool win 2-0, they tie on aggregate but Chelsea move through due to the away goals rule.

It doesn't help that the English Premiership season is at its tail-end now and Liverpool are still barely behind Man Utd coz Liverpool can't really afford to have their attention divided at this point.

If I had a say in the matter, I would honestly let go of the Champions League. After all, if they manage to come from behind to beat Chelsea, they will most likely run up against Barcelona who just thumped Bayern Munich 4-0. Note that Bayern are a team that won their previous round with an aggregate score of 12-1 so this loss indicates just how good Barca are playing at the moment.

Strangely enough, I am now hoping that Man Utd can beat Villareal, get through to the semis., and have a rough time the rest of the way. The longer they remain in the Champions League, the better the chances that they drop points in the premiership and allow Liverpool to overtake them.

Oh well, just a couple of months before the season ends. I just really hope that Liverpool can somehow take the English Premiership...

The Sound of Music in the Antwerp Central Station

Check this video out (thanks for the link, Mark! :)). It is so cheesy and so cool at the same time LOL.


Video uploaded in youtube by user saihttam1988.

Apparently, there is this reality TV show in Belgium about musicals, and they did this performance in the Antwerp Central Station to promote it.

It must've been really interesting for the people who were there at the time. Heck, if I was there, I would probably have missed my train on purpose to watch the whole show LOL.

"Run" by Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol's "Run" was released back in 2004 but this beautiful song didn't enter my consciousness until this week. Maybe it's because this is one of those songs that you need to digest or listen to a couple of times before realizing just how great it is. So I encourage you to take another listen if you don't think you like it at first.


video uploaded in youtube by user topgearhannah2k6

I "discovered" the song on Monday, when I was chatting with Sep. We were talking about a couple of songs that our band is trying to learn - Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" and Collective Soul's "Run". He suggested that we take our cue in learning these songs from live versions that Snow Patrol and Collective Soul do. Which made sense so I decided to look up the vids on youtube. While typing in "Snow Patrol" in youtube, the text predicter suggested 'Snow Patrol Run'. Interesting coincidence, I thought, and I decided to check out the video. At first I thought it was okay but not wow. And as I read the comments, I realized Leona Lewis had a version. So I checked it out. It was good, but I realized I preferred the emotion in the original version. So I listened to it again, but this time I checked the lyrics out as well.

And suddenly, it home. For me, the perfect song is one where the melody, the lyric, the instrumentation, the flow and build up of the song, and the vocal interpretation and delivery all work together to deliver the same message. And that is exactly what you get in this song. It has now been elevated to one of my favorite songs of all time and I haven't stopped listening to it since I discovered it. I've even checked out some live versions that they've done. And of all I've seen on youtube, this one is my favorite. Mainly because of how intensely the crowd sing back the final chorus to the band (happens at around the 5:05 mark)


video uploaded in youtube by user rhyniemx

And the greatest thing about this is, I apparently have this song in my ipod!! It was in one of those compilation albums I got more than a year ago which had about 5 or 6 songs that I knew and kept listening to. Can't believe this gem was in that same CD all this time!!

"Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear"

Brilliant.

Great weekend of sports!

I can't believe how things turned out in the English Premiership over the weekend. As of Friday, Liverpool were 4 points behind league leaders Manchester United. Chelsea had the same number of points but boasted a better goal difference which put them at second place.

Then things started to get interesting. On Saturday, Fulham pulled the shock of the weekend with a 2-0 win over Man U. Tottenham followed suit and beat Chelsea 1-0. Then Liverpool took full advantage of the opportunity and blasted 5 goals against Aston Villa. The rout was made even sweeter by the hat trick that Stevie Gerrard scored. Go Stevie!

This means that Liverpool are now only 1 point behind Man U and have leapfrogged Chelsea into second place. What's even better is that Liverpool now have the best goal difference in the league. This means that if they end up at the top of the league on equal points with Man U and/or Chelsea, they will take home the championship.

It's still Man U's to lose though, especially since they have a game in hand. But the dynamic has definitely changed somewhat, and Liverpool still have a shot.

*****

On the other side of the world, Rafa Nadal routed Andy Murray in the finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells to win his second title of the season, and his 13th Masters 1000 Event. With Murray defeating Roger Federer for the 4th straight time in the semifinals, Nadal's victory means he increases his lead at the top of the rankings, making it tougher for everyone else to catch him.

I hope that Nadal can continue his good form through to the clay court season and win his 5th French Open title. If that happens, who knows what other results can follow this year.

Bad, bad traffic day

I hate being stuck in traffic. But when you live in Manila, it's one of the things you learn to deal with. You come to know where in the city, and at which times during the day, the traffic is bad and how long it will take to get from one place to another during these bad traffic moments. I still get pissed off when stuck in traffic every now and then, but I can kinda let it roll off my back for the most part.

The sucky thing really is when you are not expecting any traffic at all and it hits you squarely in the face. And that's exactly what happened to me yesterday.

I was heading to Manila for band practice at 3pm. I left my place at 2:15pm, fully expecting to be at the studio in time for band practice. But at 245pm, I realized that I had been stuck at the same stretch of road for about 15 minutes already and had barely moved. I thought it was just something going on at the stoplight and text my bandmates that I will be late. But as I cross the stoplight, I realize the traffic is still horribly bad. At the worst point of the jam, it actually took me about half an hour to move 500 meters!! I honestly don't recall the last time I was stuck in a traffic jam that bad.

I decide to get off the road I'm on and take a different route. It turns out the traffic on that road is just as bad. I was now half an hour late for band practice and nowhere near the studio yet. If I had run from my place to the studio, I would probably have gotten there already!!

As it turns out, there was some anti-drug rally in Roxas Boulevard and it caused the traffic horror in Manila that day. It took me almost 3 hours (2:45) to get to the studio. We spent three hours practicing before heading home (during which time the traffic had lifted but there were still a couple of bad spots). But at least we got to practice a few songs - including three new ones that we plan to do in our next gig.

I was supposed to head to dinner afterwards. Kathy was throwing a surprise birthday party for John. While driving home, I was still fully planning to head there. However, I had to head home first. Thing is, when I got home, it hit me that I was totally exhausted and couldn't muster the energy anymore to head out. I gave Kathy and John a call to apologize and they were very nice about it. I do hope I get to meet up with them some time this week for dinner since I missed the party.

Missed chance...

Last March 12, I logged in to ticketmaster.co.uk (at 10am UK time) to try and get myself a ticket to the Graf-Agassi-Henman-Clijsters exhibition in Wimbledon on May 17. I had trouble launching the page - the first few minutes I was trying to access it, I kept seeing a message saying that the event didn't exist. I knew it must've been a glitch so I kept on trying.

After several minutes, the page finally appeared. I reckon there must have been some delay in making tickets available. So I try to get a ticket and I manage to snag a really good one at that, it was in the section right next to the court. I was thinking whether I should book it when I noticed that it would cost me an extra £18.50 for ticket delivery since I wasn't based in the UK. The additional cost threw me off for a minute, and since I preferred a seat at the back of the court rather than the side (that way, I wouldn't have to keep turning my head left and right during points), I decided to let the ticket go. In any case, I figured that since I was able to get a courtside seat quickly enough, then it should be easy enough to get another one if I wanted to.

Moments after I let it go, I realize that the extra £18.50 wasn't too bad (it's a full tank of gas and a good lunch) so I try getting another ticket.

And as I tried getting another ticket, I realized that all my assumptions were way off base.

I spent the next half hour trying to get another ticket but couldn't. When I finally get one, it was at the worst possible section - the topmost corner. It didn't seem worth it for me to pay almost PHP5,000 for a bad seat where the players would look like ants to me. So I decided not to get the ticket, and essentially drop my plans of heading to London in May. Which means I missed my chance of watching Steffi Graf play live on Wimbledon. Sucks!!

Moral of the story: don't be greedy and want a better seat than you already have (especially when the one you have is a pretty damn good one!). And when you are talking about once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, don't scrimp. You can always earn back the money but you won't get back the missed chance. Oh well...

Brilliant performance!!

Liverpool followed up their awesome midweek display against Real Madrid with a very inspired 4-1 win over Manchester United. Four goals scored against two of the best clubs in Europe (heck, in the world!) and all done in five days. Unbelievable.

I watched that match last Saturday and I have to admit that after Man U went up 1-0 about 20 minutes into the match, I switched the channel LOL. I know, I know, if you are a fan, then you should stand by your team win or lose. But I guess I was really worried that Man U would win after that. After all, they were playing at Old Trafford and Man U are pretty good front runners. So when I switched channels again at half time, I found out that Liverpool has somehow scored two goals before the end of the first half to take the lead. Apparently, Torres tied it up and Gerrard put Liverpool ahead. Once again, the dynamic duo rescue the club!

Two more amazing goal - one a free kick from Aurelio and another a very late goal from Dossena - sealed the deal for Liverpool and narrowed the gap that Man U have atop the league table to four points. Granted, Man U have a game in hand and can widen the gap to seven points. And with not too many games left in the season, Man U are still heavy favorites to win the league. But the important thing now is that Liverpool have done their part. After Man U's opening goal, Liverpool could very well have been 10 points behind instead of just four.

It's too bad that Liverpool have delivered the goods against the top squads in Europe this season - They beat Real Madrid twice, Chelsea twice, and Manchester United twice - and yet seemed to lose points to lesser teams (like Middlesbrough, against whom Pool lost 0-2 recently!). If only they could have maintained their level throughout the season, they'd still be atop the league right now. Ah well. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed...

Let's go, Liverpool!

I never thought I would see the day. Liverpool made history by blasting four goals against the legendary Real Madrid and handing the Galácticos their worst defeat in the Champions League.

I had high hopes for Liverpool to make it through to quarterfinals after they took a 1-0 advantage in the first leg of their clash with Real Madrid. But a 4-0 win was definitely not something I expected. So it was an incredibly pleasant surprise when I checked the news out this morning. What makes it even better is Torres and Gerrard both scored goals (Gerrard actually scored two) and when the dynamic duo of Liverpool are in scoring form, it's a good sign for the entire team.

I hope that they can take their Champions League success back home to England. They have a massive clash against Manchester United on Saturday, and a win will reduce the lead that Man U currently have as they sit comfortably at the top of the league table. I am still hoping Liverpool can go on a massive winning streak in England and take the Premiership title this season. Not the best odds of that happening but I will be keeping my fingers crossed...

Alicia Keys: "No One" (Stripped version)

Here's an awesome, stripped version of no One as performed by Alicia Keys.


video uploaded in youtube by user gleicarol

I got a link to this video from one of the forums I visit and I thought it was awesome. I think Alicia's voice, as great as it is, sounds quite strained in the album version of "No One". Her voice in this live performance, however, is clearer and more effortless. Much better than the recording IMHO.

But what makes this number stand out for me are the amazing back-up singers. At 3:23, they do these incredible descending scales that sounds so smooth and flawless that you think it's pretty easy to do. Then I tried singing it myself and I realized it was NOT as straightforward as I initially thought! Those back up singers are truly awesome!

Speed typing

My friend M sent me a link to this website, to which she claims she is addicted now. I took a look and it's indeed a fun site. You are supposed to type the words that appear and you are then scored on how many words and characters you can type in a minute.

I'm not sure what the average typing speed is but I thought I did pretty well. Haven't scored below 60 (one word per second) in all my tries so far. Here's my current best result:

84 words

Typing Test

Not bad. I know someone whose best score is 89 and I know someone else whose best score is 75. So I guess all in all I'm not bad (I used to think I was a lot slower than I apparently am). I'm not quite addicted to it yet but I do find it quite fun to try out every now and then.

Elliott Yamin's new single: "Fight for love"

Two years after he released his self-titled debut album, Elliott Yamin releases his new single, "Fight for Love". Woo-hoo!!!

The single was released in the US around Valentine's Day (I think it premiered on AOL on Feb 13). I've heard that it wasn't supposed to be released yet but the song somehow leaked. But in the end it kinda made sense coz it's a romantic song and a coming-out party on the Valentine's day is quite appropriate. You can listen to the full song in the Croshal Entertainment Group website.

"Fight for Love" is a really catchy song and the first time I heard it, I ended up listening to it over and over again (still do, actually LOL). Not only is the song very radio-friendly but it showcases Elliott's smooth vocals and soulful vibe. He seems to have increased his range as well as he hits a couple of really high notes that he didn't hit in his first album.

His new album is supposed to be released in the US on May 5th. The single hasn't been released in the Philippines yet, and no date has been set on international album release either. But considering his past success here, I hope it won't be long. Who knows, maybe he decides to make another trip to Manila soon to promote his new album.

Hopefully, the new album does just as well as the first one, if not better. Would be great if Elliott becomes a platinum recording artist.