So it'll be an all-English final in Moscow later this month. Manchester United will measure up against Chelsea once again. Not only are they battling for the Premiership but now they will be fighting for the ultimate European prize, the Champions League trophy. Congratulations to Chelsea for beating up on Liverpool. I really couldn't care less for Man U. so I will be cheering Chelsea on, not only in the league but also in the final. Congrats to Avram Grant also! It must suck to be leading your team into the Champions League final and to be fighting Man U. for the domestic trophy also and still be criticized and still be expected to be gone before next season. What else does one need to do to keep that job? I sure hope Chelsea gives Grant some sort of chance after this season, he completely deserves it. Kudos also go to Frank Lampard, not only did he have a great game and score a crucial penalty kick, but he did all that after his mother passed away a week ago. Congrats all around to Chelsea and I hope they can somehow pull the double off. Go Chelsea!!!!
There's nothing like getting up for the MLS SuperClasico between the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA. Not only do these two teams completely despise each other but it's this animosity that fuels pretty much what has become the best rivalry in Major League Soccer. Bobby and I both went to the game and man what a game it was. A total of 7 goals scored in an atmosphere unmatched by any other match during the season. Coming into this match both teams were pretty much mired in mediocrity. The winner of this match was going to start to pull out of said mediocrity and it was through commanding fashion that the Galaxy finally took control late in the game and beat up the goats 5-2. The Galaxy took the lead twice, only to have it snatched away and tied, with the final tie coming at 2-2. That's when a complete blunder by goalkeeper Brad Guzan led to the game winning goal by the Galaxy's own Alan Gordon. It was this blunder that changed the look of the game and led to the complete meltdown on the part of Chivas USA. A couple of more tallies led to a total of 3 goals in 8 minutes and the Galaxy emerged victorious much to the delight of all fans, Bobby and me included. Had they scored again I might have gone mute. It was tremendous fun, a great win, great teamwork. Beckham looked excellent as usual, Donovan was superb and the Galaxy dominated, let's just hope they can build from this. Can't wait for the next SuperClasico, coming to the Home Depot Center this summer!
I just caught Eagle vs Shark on DVD recently. I must say, it was quite an enjoyable movie. It's actually a New Zealand film that tells the story of a semi-complicated and quirky love story. You know how Napoleon Dynamite had a love story subtext to it? In pretty much this same way, Eagle vs Shark tells of a couple who don't fit in to society and who only have each other to comprehend and to understand. It's one of those stories that shows that, as many people as there are in the world, it doesn't necessarily mean that there are plenty of people to choose from out there. Sometimes your one equal is the only one you will ever find and unless you put forth an effort, that one person might just disappear from your life forever. Very odd in pretty much the way a lot of films from the Oceanic part of the world like to portray themselves, this DVD was short, surprising, and not at all a waste of time. Kudos to the quirkiness!
So once again my mom tells me that a certain Bobby Kimball, better known as a vocalist and keyboard player for the band Toto, came by her place of work to have some tailoring done. Of course, I dug through my CD collection and gave her my copy of Toto's Greatest Hits so that Mr. Kimball could autograph it once he came back to pick up whatever it was that he dropped off. Apparently he was more than gracious when my mom asked him if he would autograph something for her when he came back. He finally came back (they were actually on tour) and he signed it and I totally love it! Thanks Bobby!!
Well, one of these teams did well. The other one pretty much stunk the field, looked like amateurs, and let's just say they better get their act together come thursday when I go to the home opener. Oh my goodness, what a pathetic display by the Galaxy today. They looked out of sync, got totally outplayed, had no cohesion whatsoever, you just freakin' name it! The season is barely one day old and the Galaxy is already the worst team in the league after getting slapped by the Colorado Rapids, 4-0. You can only go up from there, so we'll see. As for the Red Sox, they played an exhibition game against the Dodgers at the Los Angeles Coliseum and won 7-4. What a weird setup that was at the Coliseum. Strange dimensions, weird camera angles, but quite the novelty. Largest crowd ever for an MLB game, somewhere over 115,000+, cool event, all for charity too. I tried to get tickets but that was as futile as it gets, tickets disappeared weeks ago. Anyway, go Red Sox! and to the Galaxy, get your act together in time for thursday! I don't want to attend a loss to an expansion team. Chao!
Well these news sure came as a surprise to me. I was surfing around the net when I came across a posting speaking posthumously about Sir Arthur C. Clarke. I kind of had to read it twice to actually figure out that the man had indeed passed away just a few days ago. I've been very intrigued by Clarke's work since I first started studying 2001: A Space Odyssey and found out that it was actually based on a short novel titled The Sentinel, written by Clarke. I consequently read the rest of his post 2001 works and was completely astonished at his clairvoyance. After waiting years and years, I was finally able to see 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen. I actually saw it twice during the past 8 months or so and it was just awesome the way they were able to pay tribute not only to Stanley Kubrick but also to Clarke via these screenings. I had also been waiting for years for a more fitting treatment of the film on DVD and that wish came true when earlier this year MGM released a restored, special edition of the film. The DVD has a lot of insight straight from Clarke on the film and on his writings and it was great that they caught him for all that before he passed away. Thank you Sir Arthur for your work, your insight and your genius. The film world, the science world and the technology world will miss you.
MTV2's Headbanger's Blog just premiered the latest video from Demon Hunter for the song Carry Me Down. The video is also premiering on Headbanger's Ball this weekend, keep an eye out for it. Great video for a great song from an awesome band! Enjoy it here!
I've been reading the book by Ian McEwan but I had the chance to see the film before I finished reading the book so here's my two cents on it. This actually works out quite well because I tend to read a lot of books that have been made into films, long after I've seen said films. I've only seen two of the films that were nominated for Best Picture, Atonement being one and Juno being the other one (you can look for my thoughts on Juno somewhere in this blog) and I must say that Atonement is one of those incredible films that at the core of it all has such a simple story, yet such a tragic story, that the simplicity of it and the way is told is what creates the connection between film and viewer or book and reader and what garnered it the nominations it received. You can always find a love story in any "chick-flick" but those stories never transcend time, struggle, sacrifice, even life and it's films like Atonement, A Very Long Engagement, and even to a certain extent, Love Me If You Dare, that are able to tell an ever greater, truer love story than Hollywood can ever come up with. To say that Atonement isn't tragic would be to lie but to say that the possibilities that exist with such a story are beautiful is completely factual. There are certain facets of love that exist only when they are allowed to exist by the players in the game of life and one should be only so lucky to be able to tell such a story let alone be a participant in it. Atonement is indeed a great film and a great love story and possibility. Check it out for sure.
It's unfortunate that this song was never made into a video, but here's a video shot live in Las Vegas at the premiere of Love In The Time Of Cholera, a few months back, where Shakira performed the 3 songs she wrote for the film. This is a beautiful song and one that Shakira should be very proud of. Great job by her and a great fit for the film. If you don't have the songs from this film and if you haven't seen the film, do both, buy the songs and see the film. Enjoy!
My Red Sox baseball is finally back! It's not time to get overly excited yet though. The team is still in spring training and they're still pretty much playing some very meaningless games but it's great to be able to tune into the TV and see the team back out there playing some competitive baseball. One of the coolest events is about to happen in a couple of weeks, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox are actually going to play a couple of exhibition games here in L.A. and one of these games is actually going to take place at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Los Angeles Coliseum has a capacity that exceeds over 100,000 and believe it or not, the tickets sold out in mere minutes, so no I won't be attending this game. I wanted to at least try and attend this game but I was completely surprised to find out that tickets were GONE! Oh well, as long as Boston can get close to repeating as champions, that's all that's going to matter in a few months. GO RED SOX!!!!
2001: I went, I saw, I conquered! TWICE in 6 months!
Welcome Friends, Strangers!
So far so good with this whole blog thing. Not sure how interesting you'll find my semi-daily deluge of writings but here you go!
