; the little -details- xXx

Was he trying to escape Liam's weird pre-stage antics?


Or struck by a sudden inspiration to do something for Bono's new redwire digital magazine while taking a break in the toilet?

Shower. Waiting for the Rapture. Acoustic.(and a tinge of Lennon's Working Class Heroes, Noel?) Still: frikkin' legend!

(I've been looping this song for ages now; Noel's said it's his favorite track in DOYS and I think it's currently tied with Falling Down for me)

Anyway. RadioIO, Jango, and Musicovery; wow we are so spoilt by choice these days.

Honestly, I'd rather have Pandora though, what with its music DNA stuff. I can't skip songs too much on Musicovery and they keep throwing me crap like Franz Ferdinand (four songs ahead is Kasabian, but in between is all the post modern rock I can't really stand). Jango's pretty okay but lags even harder with school connection; RadioIO is perpetually streaming/loading here. Really want something that can give me songs that match my mood you know (as well as something that LOADS); last thing I need is for my player to feed me Bach when I'm feeling jumpy or some bubbly pop when I'm feeling down (however, some songs are for all occassion; see: Beatles, The; Oasis). That's why I couldn't stand my iPod; I had too many songs of too many genres (not counting all the retarded podcasts) and was too lazy to make custom playlist to suit my mood (I'm doing that for my phone and it's a CHORE); if iPod incorporates the music DNA/genome stuff in the next generation, I'll consider going back.

And now there's this (red)wire thing, which is actually quite a brilliant idea on Bono's part; we have millions of streaming sites and online radios (I just discussed three for God's sake) and digital music magazines, but very few with direct and exclusive artists' inputs (to be fair, I'm honestly shocked Noel would do something for charity--between Dreams We Have as Children and this, he must be really bored :O). And look, we get to enjoy music aannnnddd (drumroll) help sick Africans as well! 

Unfortunately, (red)wire is as yet "unavailable in your country" for me. Just like Pandora (go sort out the pesky copyright stuff already!)

Arsenal drew 4-4 with Liverpool; God bless you Arshavin. If only we actually had real defenders (Silvestre is not counted!) on the field, we might have just floored Liverpool; Fabianski was okay despite that one mistake since if it wasn't for him, Liverpool might have been 3-0 up by the tenth minute!

Ah, United's shoo in for title then. Hip hip hooray.

I'm still alive :D in this post: on post-transfer-deadline-controversial-celebration and on mixing songs.
 
OMG WE GOT HIM

24 hours after the transfer deadline (when I abandoned all hopes), Arsenal finally landed Arshavin (they are so made for each other). Still have no idea how Arsenal actually managed to secure his services after the deadline, but I'm not one to look at the gift horse in the mouth. Probably, between the bullshit Zenit and Arsenal throw at each other they actually managed to land his signature. But whatever.

SHIT SO EXCITING. I know it'd take Arshavin a while to adjust to EPL-standard, but seeing Arsenal's dire state at the moment (headless chickens at the second half of the field, creativity leaving all their petrified bodies as they see the goalposts loom before them) and the fact that Fabregas is gonna be out for still quite a while (eh, wth Rosicky not back yet?) and that I won't count on Cesc to actually stay in the Emirates Stadium for long now, we probably need someone older, more experienced at the front now. Arshavin was brilliant in Euro08, except for that semifinal match when he kinda disappeared but hey everyone has his off days. 

(He has like the cutest blue eyes. And that double chin!)

Anyway, Robbie Keane--> Tottenham again. Biggest joke of the season, despite whatever Rafa Benitez has to say. They may have won 0-2 to Chelsea, but pray to God, please don't let them win the title. I'd rather let United win again and watch my brother gloat; let them enjoy it lah, next season we're going to storm through the league, big guns-a-blarin'.

Soccer aside, I actually find a new hobby. Currently in the midst of mixing my fifth acoustic medley and having a blast of a time while doing so. It's hard to do such stuff without my guitar, but with the occassional trips to the music room (where I have to practice for my grade 8 piano exam) and a lot of looping the songs in question, I think I've done some pretty interesting jobs. Was inspired a lot by Boyce Avenue for their unique acoustic twist to songs they cover and Norwegian Recycling for how he mashes up a lot of songs (mashing up six songs into one is harder than just mixing two) together--and this Final Fantasy piano medley I did earlier in the year spurred me on as well. In fact, I'm currently saving up to buy some tambourines and shakers; I would be eternally grateful if anyone can offer me some cheap cajon drums, cymbals and if possible bass drums. 

(Wonder if there's space in my hostel room for that? Speaking of hostel, I'm having a great time so far; my cluster's great, my new class is great--bonds formed all over the place! Made new friends, gotten to know old ones better; everyday is a revelation :D)

I'll get back home and try these mashups out; see if they turn out fine. If they don't, well at least I have fun listening to them and mixin' them and variating their accompaniment and a bit of the chords together. :)

Melinda Doolittle--the awesome powerhouse from American Idol Season 6--is finally going to have her debut album Coming Back to You in the stores on the 3rd of February this year--I knew this because apparently some of her fans posted comments on posts that contained any mention of Melinda, including one of mine from like a year ago to publicise her album. 


Expecting Michael John's album to come out a month after that :D fingers crossed there would be a duet with Carly Smithson. 


And here's another shocker: Chelsea got raped 0-3 by United. Winning the League for the third time suddenly doesn't seem so impossible for Man United (GARGH NO) and who wants to start betting who Scolari would start blaming for this uber embarassing loss? 

(Petr Cech again? Didn't watch the match--since I've already checked into the hostel by then--but have a gut feeling it might be Obi-Mikel?)

How I envy the fans of the Red Devils. Any Gooner is probably going through a rough patch right now (1-0 against Bolton. REALLY. URGH!)

Here's a thought: David Archuleta's album is being advertised as "Your favorite American Idol's debut album!" But if he really was the favorite, wouldn't he win the show which is won by collecting the majority of the votes, aka being popular?

Yet another example of advertisers not using their heads.

Anyway, today's a greaaattt day. For one thing, Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 and Van Persie's the hero again. Title hopes are still alive and within reach--with a bit of luck and consistency, boys!

Today was NUS High School's first convocation--the pioneer batch officially graduated today. The students looked like Hufflepuff students while the teachers looked like they came from the Gryffindor House (the students and staff looked like extras who have stolen the robes from the Harry Potter movies set, really!) while we were mercifully dressed in plain ol' black (we being the entertainment-slash-music for the evening). I would put the few pictures I took just now, but Livejournal's failing on me for some reasons, but I think tons of pics should be flying around Facebook by now if anyone's curious.

I was thinking how long the Orchestra two years from now would have to drag Pomp and Circumstance when it's our batch's turn to graduate (oh, the thought of this sends shivers--the excited kinds, mind you--down my spine!) since just now, I think we repeated three times and there's around twice as many students in our batch as there are in this Year 6 batch. X)

I finally did something useful this holiday--not for myself, but for David Cook (I bought his album in order to help the other David a step closer to being crushed--pun intended) and for my mom. See, my mom's friend, thanks to a twist of fate, ended staying with us here for a little while as this seminar she was supposed to attend to in Kuala Lumpur was so messed up, it was cancelled. So there she was--lost, alone, hardly any cash on her, and suddenly she'd remembered her old best friend who now lives across the Causeway.

My mom used to have two best friends in high school and this woman's one of them. The three of them used to be so very close--in fact, my mom's nickname for me since I was a baby was in honor of this other best friend's pen-name (she hated her name and wouldn't respond to anything else but Noni, and when she was published, she used that name as her pen-name). My mom's been as giddy as, well, a schoolgirl ever since this friend arrives and the two of them have been chatting and gossiping as if their high school days were just mere days ago.

S'kow, aching legs not withstanding (let's just say I overdid rope skipping the other day), I've become some kinda tour guide to show my mom (despite living in Singapore for 5 years, my mom's not really familiar the Lion City's hot tourist spots) and her friend a (hopefully) good time.

Yesterday went great--really great, since even I ended up quite enjoying myself despite visiting Sentosa for the how many-eth time this year. Today--today's a different story with me, and gosh I do hope that my moodswing (most horrible timing in the world, by the way, the little fucker) didn't ruin their day.

Lay off the caffeine, Intan--it's messing with your brains (and moods)!

So, Arsenal VS Chelsea tomorrow. GG, Gooners--you lose this, you lose the title hopes, and unfortunately, the odds are against ya. Getting raped by Aston Villa and Manchester City, that horrible CL game against Dynamo Kiev, and oh yeah, that Gallas scandal= Looks like we have to focus on CL. Is there a chance we might actually put up the same display we did against Manchester United three weeks ago? Maybe, but does lightning strike twice? A squad torn with mistrust (I never did think of Van Persie as the bitching-backstabbing kind, but according to Gallas, he is!), injury, inconsistency... against Scolari's Chelsea side that sometimes I watch with my jaws wide open (their first game under Scolari--I went who the hell is that team wearing Chelsea blue and why the hell are they playing beautiful football?).

Oh gosh, I can't watch this--I'm sooooo convinced we would be massacred. Most negative Arsenal fan: yeap, that's me (until they shed this really depressing form of theirs).

Loading Friends and surfing ONTD as I watched :O And when I stumbled upon a bevvy of gorgeous pics of the American Idol 08 top 10, I looked away for just a while to miss Nasri's shot deflected by Rio Ferdinand into the goal past Van Der Sar (bless you, Ferdinand). OMGOMGOMG NASRI LOVE MUCH SQUEEALLLLLLL!!!! (Raymond Domenech, if I don't see that boy making onto the bench for Les Bleus, you need to check yourself into IMH).

Fun, fun, exciting fast paced game. Walcott's being marked like crazy, but hey, he's not the only threat :O

I'd like to see Vela for Diaby later on.

Hey, Gallas, you got yourself a yellow again. Ronaldo's taking free kick now... CLICHY ALMOST HEADED IT INTO THE GOAL BUT luckily it swerved away from goal.  GREAT COUNTER ATTACK, ARSENAL--it didn't cumulate to anything, but FABREGASSSSSS--so near!

(and Denilson, you brought Berbatov down right in front of the goal--thank God Howard Webb didn't think too much about it -.-)

not much going on in Manchester's goal proximity, really; things are sort of more concentrated in front of Almunia--BLESS HIM, just saved a shot. FABREGAS just brought CR7 down. Almunia saved Ronaldo's free kick.
Still 1-0, with around 8 minutes to go to the end of the first half. Let's see if Arsenal can keep it this way (or improve the scoreline, even better!) till then.

Diaby charged forward, brought down by Carrick just in front of the box, and Howard Webb ignored it. Gallas is unhappy. Evra just gave an unpleasant challenge to Walcott as well. HELLO WEBB, YOU HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST ARSENAL, DO YA?

I can see that the Gunners are slowly getting more and more confident and the pressure is on for Man U's veterans. They gotta keep this spirit throughout to maintain this momentum; hopefully, Man U would remain dispirited even after Ferguson's hairdryer treatment (who would get it, huhm? Maybe Carrick?) The balls' played more and more often in United's penalty box. As usual, still lack finishing. Someone please enrol the Gunners in 'Finishing Courses'!

Clichy got himself a yellow card. Yeah, that's right Webb, give the Gunners all the yellows.

Beautiful tackle, Walcott! And another nice save from Anderson, Almunia! 30 more seconds to go now.

DONE. Half time. Three cheers for Samir Nasri and woah what's with the crowd booing? That's really rude, man, nice manners.

---------------------------

52:09--man, I fell asleep for too long. The hell, we're now 2-0 up? Not to sound unhappy or anything, but what happened?

53:59--If United keeps up this chances-wasting display, we can win!

54:40--Sir Ferguson's face is now as red as Arsenal's shirt--he looks real pissed now, probably unhappy that his hairdryer treatment hadn't worked.

55:49--Rooney kicked the ball above Almunia--and the goal as well. My brother'd just told me that Nasri <3 <3 <3 scored his brace and oh yeah, he hates Samir now, while my love for him grows and grows. And I just notice that Arsenal's backline seems less fragile than usual--or is it just that United's wasting too many chances? Or both, I guess. Luck seems to be on our side today.

59:00--Ronaldo's got a handball--frustation's showing through now.

60:47--Walcott could have gotten that cross from Bendtner in--my bro, in his defense (he loes Walcott as an England player, not an Arsenal player), says that it must be his injuries preventing him from massacring United. Well, people, I only have one thing to say: this is Arsenal's football at its best, free-flowing, beautifully passed with great vision and understanding, the young Gunners seemingly too agile and nimble for the lumbering Red Devils. And oh yeah, add to the fact that Almunia seems to be on his best form today.

62:00--Rafael's come in for Neville now. Cmon, Arsene, bring in the juniors too--Ramsey and Vela should get a feeling of this great great atmosphere :D

65:30--EEEKKKK ALMUNIA, is he okay? ohmigosh Michael Carrick seem to be like the Hulk today, harming everything on his way--seriously suprised he's gone clean so far.

67:50--I see some of the youngsters like Song warming up already. Almunia's on his feet now. By the way, Nasri's haircut is really pretty :D

70:30--Nice dive, CR7. Join the Russian ballet already.

71:30--Ryan Giggs for Anderson now. Careful now, Gunners; Giggs' got a penchant for saving his club. Whewt, something's happened to United now; they suddenly had a burst of energy and attacked the Arsenal's half.

73:30--EXCUSE ME, WEBB, THAT IS SO A PENALTY FOR MY SAMIR NASRI CAN. MAY YOUR EAR WITHER AND FALL INTO YOUR RIGHT POCKET, MAN.

74:40--That's right, give United all the free kicks and deny Arsenal their penalties.

76:00--Arsenal's counter attack's never looked so efficient. Oy, Tevez's in for Rooney, who's been firing blanks anyway. But Tevez-Berbatov? May not work well, man. Walcott's out for Song now. Fabianski is subbing in Almunia, who's been excellent--I've been hard on you, like, all the time, Manuel, but today, you're a hero. Looks like Wenger's not going to risk his players now--hopefully these substitutions won't cause Arsenal this game.

80:35--The pace is even faster now, but Arsenal's there to respond to this. Great save by Fabianski to end United's counter attack. Bendtner just shot gently at Van der Sar.

82:03--Oooohhh Arsenal's apparently only kept 34% of possession in the second half. Toure's by the sidelines now.

83:07--7 minutes to go. A lot of things chan happen in 7 minutes. Cue for the song "16" from High School Musical 3, but instead with "seven" instead of "sixteen" in the lyrics. United can equalize both last minute or even come out with a winner, or Arsenal can increase the scoreline, or Nasri may even get himself a hattrick. Seven, seven, seven...

84:08--Free Kick. Ronaldo as usual. OUT. Yeah!

85:26--Toure for Diaby. Looks like we're going defensive now, baby.

86:46--more than 60 000 people are watching the EPL champions trailing by two goals behind the Gunners. Three minutes and a bit more, boys, hang on!

88:51--Liabilities on United's side is obviously Carrick and Park.

89:14--RAFAEL!!! Awesome goal, my brother's been going on and on about him scoring, and yeah, there it is. I like him (I like the Da Silva twins, really). He's cute. And talented.

90:08--WHAT SIX ADDED MINUTES HELLO HELLO ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN SIX MINUTES NOW. United's getting hungrier and hungrier for their equaliser.

92:30--Best player in United's side: Rafael. He's making all the difference, really. He's so energetic compared to all the rest of United's players (even CR7) such that I think he'd be right at home with Arsenal :P Stealing balls, making runs, creating chances... The day when his twin brother, Fabio, returns for them to play side by side would be a scary one for United's opponents indeed.

94:16--Still, Arsenal still can't make best use of their chances. Like Bentdner just screwing up a great attempt. By the way, United's got 9 shots on target, 2 more than Arsenal. Credits to Fabianski and Almunia for keeping the home safe.

3.

2.

1.

FINAL WHISTLE'S BEEN BLOWN, AND WE WON, PEOPLE! A miracle's been done tonight, and we were treated to some exciting, beautiful football today. What a great match--well, if you're not in United's camp that is (but c'mon, you have to be impressed by Arsenal's youth's performances today, naw?). We won despite Howard Webb hating us. :D

This is getting to be a habit for Arsenal really--go on a winless streak, accumulate criticism, and then perform a miracle to win everyone back again. I'd much rather prefer... win all the way, yeah! Arsenal has again shown glimpses of the potential of the future stars in the team, but how long will it be for that potential to be in broad, plain sight for all to see all the time?

(we still lack finishing though, seriously, although manchester united had more problems in that area so we didn't really need to worry too much about it).

Really love the feeling of supporting an underdog and still see them win, mhmmm mhmmm. Now my brother's putting on Fifa 09 and he's going to use Manchester United to trash the Arsenal there. Oh, how technology can abete your feelings... NOT! Heh, his head would need to return to planet Earth sooner or later, and he'll find his world plastered with newspaper clippings about this match, courtesy of his caring big sister.

And now, back to Season 6 of Friends. :D (<3 chandler&monica, yum!)

I love Arsenal. I seriously do. But right now, their form is lower than low, and they have to face the flying high Manchester United. Currently, the boys of Arsenal are outclassed in every aspect and I've really really spent the entire week looking for a bright spot, but nay (thanks a lot, Van Persie, for getting suspended really; and Silvestre, you've been injured more than you've played this season in Arsenal shirt). The boys may be future world class players, but they are more inconsistent than anything. I think that I'm already being an optimist thinking we'll lose 1-0--even other Arsenal fans such as my dad thinks we'll be massacred!

Well, if there's one department Arsenal seems to be really good at, then it has to be 'making miracles'. With an average age of 22, they made a miracle in Carling Cup, and against Fenerhbahce in Turkey. Anything can happen in football, and if the Gunner boys get their mindset right, we may be treated for another miracle tonight in the Emirates Stadium.

(Anyway, if we can't even beat them at home, then forget about beating them in Old Trafford -.-)

Still so frikkin' beat up from the Biennale Race. Hope won't fall asleep from the match.

i can't believe how close lewis hamilton was to not winning the F1 crown yesterday--he was sixth in the last lap and massa was first, but he managed to slip into fifth to cross the line, and fifth was all he needed to win the championship by a point.

my heart breaks for massa. sixth straight brazilian GP win, and still no title.

now hamilton has something real to brag about. urgh.

arsenal vs stoke city? DIABY GO DO YOUR JOB WELL CAN AND VAN PERSIE YOU DON'T CHARGE AGAINST THE GOALKEEPER WITHOUT ANY REASONS AT ALL. now you go get yourself red-carded. excellent. 

(vela needs to have more playtime).

tottenham is shedding their ramos form seriously quickly--harry potterredknapp's waved his wand and suddenly roman pavluychenko has become the striker we all admired in the Euros and luka modric is quickly becoming that fleet-footed playmaker again. arsenal still managed to draw against them, but liverpool--who was still high from beating chelsea a week ago--lost! and hull city--ever since they beat arsenal a month ago or so, they've gained my respect, and the fact that they fought really hard against manchester united would only increase that respect; i hope they'd be able to stay in the premiership for a long time if their form continues.

miroslav klose: 3 goals and 6 assists in 6 games--top of the assist table in the bundesliga. you know what's so sexy about him? the fact that he's so unselfish he'd sacrifice glory he can bask in himself for the team and his teammates--he can't be happier that he's leading the assist table.

condolences to jennifer hudson. it's a painful wake up call to all of us that even those above us aren't still out of reach from bad guys and their guns.

(john lennon).

and condolences to juande ramos. he mighta been a great coach if he hasn't inherited such a screwed up tottenham with unsettled players (berbatov. keane. defoe) and club board whose knowledge of football extends as far as the ball is round (then again, this is starting to become a really worrying trend for almost all EPL clubs, isn't it?). harry redknapp's been hired a few hours ago or so to replace him in the hope that tottenham might actually turn their bad luck around. well, tottenham's currently leading bolton 1-0 right now and ohmygosh are they actually going to win a match?

(maybe ramos' really been their bad luck card all along!)

arsenal's currently playing west ham as i'm speaking--stil 0-0! (eh, where's diaby?) and no, i'm not watching at all--my brother is :P and guess what guess what? bayern won again! yay! a 4-2 win over previously fifth placed wolfsburg (no time to check the table yet) despite being 0-2 down in the first half thanks to...

franck ribery! mark van bommel (captaincaptaincaptain)! tim borrowski! aannddd schweini!

(i don't know if i miscount or anything but borrowski or schweini should be top-scorer for bayern right now--yeah, i think tim is, isn't he?)

(and mark's really turning his game around ever since that period of time he spent warming the bench--he came back a different captain. wow, jurgen klinsmann really knows how to handle people--well, in this case).

lyon drew again: 0-0. still leading the table but the winless streak has now been extended to three.

tminus-8 days to daniel craig, playstation 3 and sleeeeppppppppppppp.

mama mia. here we go again.

thursday, 17.07.08.
i realised that while i often miss the big pictures, i'm too preoccupied with the smallest details around me.

1.

i've been so beat up these past few days the only thing i can do is: wake up, eat, swim, watch soccer, sleep. and the cycle repeats itself day after day. i can't believe how fast the holiday's gone by--gargh, i don't wanna go back to school with all its related stress and problems!

my sister is in philiphines. for obs. apparently, she's one of the first batch chosen to undergo her obs in the archipelago country. the future leader, she is--band major, student councillor exco, go-girl for so many teachers who non-stop call her day after day to do this and that. a bit worried because these teachers have gone a bit over the line; my sis worked herself sick and her holiday's pretty much non existent, and this work hasn't stopped since the academic semester and will probably eat into it as well, which resulted in her having no studying time and getting really lousy results last semester.

anyway, this post consists of the following, with the content of each header hidden under the cut (click to access it!):

les bleus's opening blues

as a france fan, i was thoroughly embarrassed by this match. everyone i know fell asleep watching it. my dad, a recently former france fan, has renounced his loyalties (to none other than holland and spain) after watching it. it's been called "90 minutes of ugly". i call it "utter pain and nonsense".

0-0. i had the sick feeling in my guts that it's gonna be the score right after the first half. slow pace. lazy midfielders. interrupted passes. practically non-existent offense. i'm not talking about romania; i'm talking about les bleus--one of the tournament favorites, and one of the greatest football team in the world.

where, oh where should i start?


in 1954, the west germans created history during the world cup, hosted in switzerland that time, by defeating invincible and much fancied hungarians despite being first timers in the tournament. the miracle of berne, that's what the incident is now known as. berne is the city where france would face off huge favorites holland, and while the stadium has been rebuilt, this may be the site of a new miracle, if france plays their cards right--and with a little bit of luck.

henry, benzema, ribery, makelele... these may be the stuff new legends are made of.

oranje triumphs azurri

best game so far (followed closely by spain vs russia and germany vs poland). we had two of the world's best goalkeepers in buffon and van der sar who seem to be magnets for the ball--they can attract and repel ball away at their will--and two "mad"men with such an affinity for shooting and scoring in luca toni and van nistelrooy all in one field. which side will prevail? the experienced veterans italy has, or the enthusiastic--but criticized for being prone to disorganized--youths of holland?

the dutch prevailed 3-0 over the world cup finalists in an earth shattering game in a stadium painted orange and blue. the dutch's excellent performance has convinced many people--including me--that they have what it takes to actually go all the way. but looking back at history, netherlands has been prone to inconsistency despite the many talents and stars they have in their squad. while they may go out of the group stages--even if france beats/draws with them, they almost certainly will beat romania--there is still a long way to go in the tournament, which may include meeting with spain (exciting, eh?)


spain leaves king midas flabbergasted

i was actually expecting a russian win this time around, because guus hiddink is known as king midas for something--whatever he touches turns to gold. however, this russian team didn't shine as spain spanked them 4-1--and hiddink could only blame his team for "being stupid; a high school team can do better than them".


all theatrical dives and play: portugal vs czech republic
aka. another cristiano ronaldo rant.

a game that is marred by too many suspicious dives... well, it ended well for maradonna cristiano ronaldo and co. i was hoping for a draw between the two giants of group A so as to make the next match more interesting in a "damn it, we're desperate for the bloody points!" way, but portugal has now qualified for the quarters and czech republic would have to fight on against turkey to keep their cup hope alive.

don't have much to say; not exactly my favorite game since bodies kept on falling and rolling around the ground (it wasn't only the portuguese players), and it was not per se, as exciting as watching the germans or dutch, italians or spanish play. petr cech is probably berating himself in his hotel room, but it wasn't his fault--it was his defenders for having such big and crucial lapses in front of the goal.

meanwhile, while wearing the white away portuguese jersey, ronaldo has made another attempt at raising his already high wage by dangling the real shit again: apparently he likes wearing white jerseys more than red ones.

pathetic, ronaldo, pathetic. and i'm not the only one who thinks that you are an over-rated selfish diving player.

and klose has been comparing podolski to ronaldo and thinks that poldi is better than him. beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, but since 99.99999% of people only know who ronaldo is and only watch epl, i think his comment would be met with much criticism. all i can say is that podolski has his share of sparkling moments and inconsistency, but he's played far too little during the season to be assessed--who knows, if he actually manages more playing time in any club he plays in next, he may prove klose true.

HEY i have an idea: man united can sell maradonna hotshot boy away and buy podolski. let's see what will happen.

germany on fire, or in trouble? croatia vs germany preview

michael ballack reckons that des manschafft ought to step it up if they want to fight stronger squads. if you read my last post, you'll see that i agree with him all the way. germany problem remains in the not-so-tested defense, and this time around, maybe even how the offense can squander chances away. klose was still not at his best form during the game and gomez--maybe the stage fright got to him--was far from being splendid. 'course, podolski and maybe schweinsteiger (that is, if jogi keeps the same formation) can create more chances for them. point is, poland is (i say this with respect) not as good as a team as croatia, which can expose the german defense as well as subdue the offense. however, this game against croatia can also set the level germany ought to play their game on--much like stepping stones, one game against better opponents gradually can make a winning team.

last time i was overly negative about germany's chances, they won; and when i was overly positive about france's chances, they drew. i guess i should just stop saying much and just ... have faith. believe in joachim loew, believe in michael ballack, and in miroslav klose and bastian schweinsteiger (on or off bench), and lukas podolski and phillip lahm, and clement fritz and torsten frings and...

well, believe in des manschafft's will and desire, and hunger for victory. it had ended the twelve year winless euros streak, and it might just take them through the necessary steps to finally clinch that fourth title.

arsenal's transfer saga: now featuring david villa

summer always brings the drama of transfer sagas. any big club is always linked to any big player even if they have no intention of snapping the player up and no one can know which statement is actually true or not. players and their agents may want to leave their current club so badly they do all kinds of stuff (for example, alexander hleb's and his ice-cream incident, as well as his proclamation that london is too noisy for him) while clubs may play dirty to get their players, like using newspapers to overpublicise and spin exaggerated stories of they clinching the players they want (c.ronaldo's case is one, as well as adebayor's). some other players want to increase their wage by dangling the transfer bait over their employers' head (see c.ronaldo and adebayor as well).

while star players like cesc fabregas, jens lehmann (already on his way to stuggart. byebye) emmanuel adebayor and alexander hleb (just go already, hleb) are constantly linked to other european giants, arsenal's managed to snap up some big guns as well. or at least, supposedly so.

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my gosh, i cant believe how long it took me to write this post. -.-

i thought: no, it couldn't be. there's just one week designated for exams this year , but no way they'd try and squeeze 3 exams a day almost everyday for the year 4s right? i mean, of course they wouldn't want us to just drop dead from sheer exhaustion and stress.

but the school has never failed to amaze me.

finding time to revise is as easy as finding needle in a haystack. and now with 3 exams per day, you'll be spoilt for choice as to what you want to revise for that particular day. and not mentioning this semester's modules are as tough as ever.

hip hip hooray for the semestral planning this year. let's just say i haven't seen anything quite like it before.

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and arsenal lost to man u.

it's yet another one of those times i wish owen hargreaves is still in Bayern.

arsenal better not screw up against man u today.

by not screw up, i mean, try holding them to a draw. i mean, arsenal's current form and man u's current form despair me to the point i just hope we won't be humiliated by a really landslide loss (ie. tuesday's 4-2 game with liverpool. eeyer)

anyway, here comes the hell fortnight, aka the week when teachers will rush absolutely everything (aka projects, homeworks, quizzes and remedial lessons and a gajillion bajillion of materials left for the semester) plus speechday rehearsal and oh yeah exams are coming too.

they didn't put 'absolutely big heavy stress' in the job description for being a student. i mean, if we've known that, a lot of people would have thought twice about being a kid (since being a kid now usually means being a student).

how to keep a positive mindset during this hell period?

well, don't think about the exams, think about what comes after the exams. like: freedom. countdown to holidays can start now.

but try not to think too far, ie. after holiday, school starts again. i mean, that kind of thought will just further depress you.

i just watched a really lousy history being made today--just now, actually. minutes ago.

what a lousy weekend. the two unbeaten big clubs in epl finally conceded defeat. by two smaller, bottom-half clubs.

liverpool fans would not even break a sweat thinking about a match with reading. but in the end, reading trampled all over the reds and their pride (and i could already hear rafa crying in the inside).

if the defeat to sevilla was any omen, no one probably bothered taking it seriously. the football weekly article on arsenal vs middlesborough said that the match to arsenal would be like taking the dog out for a walk.

and so ends arsenal's unbeaten epl record. how embarassing. 2-1 to middlesborough without that much of a fight--they didn't play as nicely as usualy. maybe it was the absence of cesc fabregas. or maybe the keeper fumbled too much (jens lehmann may be cheering right now). the one good thing was the one goal put in really really in the last second--saved a bit of pride there (so it means that arsenal scored again, keeping their 'always score at matches' record).

this may mean something, like arsenal's luck may be running out. oh gosh. just five more months to go to the cup; hold on!

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i should really blog about brisbane. i had a really wonderful time there. but maybe later. X) have to pack to go to jakarta first!

arsenal still leading epl by 19 points; 2 marks higher than man u, who already had 8 games compared to arsenal's 7 games. wengers' boys won all games except for one draw, a far much more impressive record than manchester united's, chelsea's and liverpool's records.

almost half a season gone--i hope arsenal can keep this up till the end of the season. go gunners! lift up the premier cup again this season!

god, chelsea, this is the dumbest thing you can actually do this year. fire/make him resign/ let your best manager go because he makes your owner (as in the one with the money) frowns.

you're actually compromising this season's trophy because your exmanager quarreled with your owner over everything--from transfer moneys to players to losing/winning games and maybe over spilt ice creams too, while we're at it.

he's arguably one of the best managers there is and the hottest too (well until roy keane came along)  and not forgetting he brings almost all the media attention to the club. i mean, what is chelsea without him, really?

oh wait, why do i care in the first place. with mourinho gone, arsenal's a step closer to the trophy now. =D