quick update

Since this blog was initiated, it has probably taken the longest break it has seen in recent months. As much as I’d like to update this blog as often as I wanted to, it just would not be possible due to time limitations. In fact, I was surprised to find several comments on queue but most of them are spammers though, to my disappointment.

However, I’d just like to share this new content and page I’d been working on if you want to check out more of my writeups and other stuffs that I have written while I have abandoned this blog for a while.

Promise, more updating soon once I have the time and I find anything of real substance to write about.

Unorthodox Gambling Method

Ever tried gambling? Las Vegas is probably the hottest place to be in if you want to enjoy some gambling time and spend a few dollars while having fun. Indeed, it doesn’t hurt to splurge once in a while, especially after a hard day’s work.

Sad you can’t go to Vegas? Well, online casinos are the next best thing nowadays. In fact, you can find an astounding array of websites that offers tips, guides, and directories for the best way to experience gambling on the internet. And I tell you, it’s as good as being in Vegas and go splurging a bit. Internet casinos are now proving to be as good of a bet as traditional casinos that most people recognize.

Personally, I haven’t tried gambling but the prospect of trying online gambling seems pleasing and fun enough that I might find myself trying it sometime in the future. This is definitely a good way to get you started!

Since there are different types of way to enjoying gambling on the internet, you must choose ones that fit your gambling preference. Web-based casinos enable you to play directly without downloading any software on your computer. There are also download-based ones that requires downloading before you can start playing. And lastly, live-based casinos offer the highest level of interactivity as you compete with other gamblers in a real-life casino environment. So, which one do you choose?

Milk It!

*photo courtesy of Thaindian.com

A day after the biggest night in the film industry concluded for this year, an anti-gay protest was held against the film “Milk”, especially after Sean Penn ended up with the Best Actor award for his performance in the movie. During the awarding ceremony, Sean Penn, fully realizing the negative feedbacks produced by his film amongst anti-gay communities, delivered one of Academy Awards history’s best acceptance speech.

Sean Penn’s retort was very touching, not just for people (gays or not) who are proponents of gay rights, but for anyone in search of and fighting for their own individual rights.

“It’s very sad in a way, because it’s a demonstration of such emotional cowardice, to be so afraid of extending the same rights to your fellow man as you would want for yourself.“

On immortalizing feelings

C.S. Lewis: “Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

Kick-off: American Idol Hollywood Week

And so, we’re off to Hollywood. One of the biggest change in Season 8 of AI was to cut short the crappy audition pieces (which was rather some of the more entertaining parts of the show) to lengthen the Hollywood Week part of the season. Talk about trying to roughen it up! Anyways, Hollywood Week was entertaining, funny at times, but definitely full of drama. Gladly though, a few genuine talent shone through.

First day of Hollywood Week consisted of performances that screened through the contestants that will make it through the next round. To be honest, there is just too much people involved that it’s hard to pinpoint who’s who, so this stage did not stood out that much. Though I was glad Michael Castro safely skirted through.

The second part of Hollywood Week proved to be the more entertaining one, since it is a Group Sing. This allowed the contestants to not only showcase their vocal capacity but also their flexibility when working as a team. Ahuh. Some groups held it together, while others fell apart due to clashing personalities.

The Team Diva, oddly enough, proved to be such divas but minus the lackluster performance. It consisted of orphan girl Rose, Bikini Girl Katrina Darell, Jasmine, and another one whom I forgot the name of. There was too much drama, springing around (surprise, surprise!) Katrina. Even Kara could not withstand her boisterous attitude. I’m glad she’s gone for good in my next American Idol viewing sessions.

There were quite a few standout from the performances and I’m too tired to mention them all, so I’d rather list them down here:

*Adam Lambert – His experience in theatre really proved itself here. Belting out those high notes was rather a pleasure to watch. And damn, he made those black eye-liners look sexy!

those killer eye-liners!

*Jeremy Michael Sarver. Another impressive vocals! Boy, could he sing! I’m no good at predictions, but he’s one of those few real talents I’ve got my bet on to make the top 36.

*Danny, the young widower. Hah, forgot his name. I tend to mix the contestants up for now. But he’s good, cited as one of the best auditions by the judges. So, there’s no surprise he makes it through.

Michael survives Hollywood.

*Michael Castro. He made it, but I was rather sad he did not get that much air time. Is this some sort of conspiracy? Or was he too much of a hands-on favorite that it’ll be not worth the air time? Whichever way it is, I was not pleased. *sobs*

Looks like this is the guy’s season right here. Not too many impressive showing from the women, although I expect that to change in the coming weeks, especially as the number of contestants slim down. Speaking of women, the good ole catfight between Kara D. and bikini-girl Katrina is on yet again! But this time, with Kara having the last say. Ever the poser that she is, Katrina did not let it get her down as she even managed to pose for the camera. No, I don’t find her annoying, instead she’s amusing. Anyways, the crappy stuff are over and AI looks to be more exciting in the coming weeks. Till then!

history squashed!

Federer in tears after losing to Nadal in their Australian Open Championship match, Sunday.

The irony of it all. Federer was gunning for history by winning this year’s 14th Grand Slam title, joining the ranks of tennis legends and following in the footstep of Pete Sampras. This is not to say that Roger Federer has not already had a major career, being the second longest tennis player EVER to hold on to the World No. 1 rank. But last night, history was cruel. With number one and number two battling it out, what else do you expect but a fierce competition, lasting 4 hours and 23 minutes.

The oddity of it all? It was his greatest nemesis today, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal who instead set history. He was the first Spanish to win the Australian Open Championship.

It was a tough loss for Federer and he wasn’t able to hold back his emotions during his speech at the awarding ceremony, immediately following the match. And I sympathize with him, as the defeat was probably too much to bear and to have that constantly rubbed in your face was a totally different story. I felt for Federer because Nadal was a tough competitor, enduring until the final set of the match despite his 5-hour marathon game against fellow Spanish Fernando Verdasco the day before. The game analyst pointed out, in reference to Nadal, “Isn’t Nadal supposed to be tired?” And prompted his fellow analyst to remark in return, “I guess he [Nadal] does not know the meaning of that word.”

While I was rooting for Federer the whole time, Nadal was a worthy winner. Rafa tried to lighten things up when he said “Sorry” to Roger for defeating him. Indeed, these were two of tennis’ greatest sportsmen during our time.

Regaining his composure, Federer went back to the mic and rounded up his speech, now able to muster a smile on his face and uttered, “See you next year!”

history in the making

*photo courtesy of zimbio.com

Roger Federer is the epitome of a fundamental tennis player. Garnering multiple Grand Slam titles under his belt and successfully defending his former World No.1 title for tennis history’s second longest streak (on men’s division), Federer looks as fierce as if he was a novice at the sport raring to show off his potential. But he is not. He has been a tennis pro for several years now and his old winning form shows no signs of waning, at least not during his recent semis match. After climbing down at the ATP ranking, the title “World No.2″ does not tick him off a tad bit anymore but it does not mean he is going to give up his quest for a title, say a Grand Slam title like the Australian Open, without giving his opponent a pounding.

Andy Roddick was another player who fell victim to Federer’s viciousness on the court. In their 18 meetings, Roddick fell short 16 times. If history played any significance during the semis match in this year’s Australian Open, then Roddick was probably aware that he was at a clear disadvantage.

If reaching the Australian Open finals did not offer enough motivation, Federer was also gunning for tennis world history. Apart from winning the title, Federer’s bid to win the title marked his 18th finals appearance at a Grand Slam tournament. Andy Roddick definitely was up against massive odds and the American was well aware of that fact. But it wasn’t enough as Federer breezed through the American tennis pro in 2-hour, 7-minutes of play in a 6-2 7-5 7-5 showing.

Classic player, that Federer. When interviewed after the match, and pointed out the possibility of making another history if he were to eventually go on to win the title, he said: “It’s just great to be playing here – it’s fun out there. If I can break records, too, then that’s great.” Federer could not hold back his grin.

The matchup between two Spanish players World No.1 Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco is still awaiting confirmation. Like this one, the match seemed lopsided. But if you’ve seen the semis match during 2008’s US Open featuring Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, then this isn’t the time to make any bold predictions.

Nonetheless, it would be a finals worth watching for.

Heartbroken over Seigle.

Danny Seigle winning MVP honors at 2006 Brunei Cup

It was a do-or-die contention. And the game analyst proved prophetic when he pointed out that they are approaching the dying seconds of the game as I saw my team figuratively die. Stupid coach. Where in the world could you find a coach who would risk burning an opponent’s entire 24-second shot clock with only 3 seconds left to try and gain a go-ahead basket on the other end? That was a stupid mistake, and I hope one that would haunt SMB’s coach (lest I cannot even mention his name) from here on out. I felt like scratching my head or pulling my hairs apart. Exaggerated but it felt more like it.

Then I turned my attention over to Seigle. It was nearly a decade ago when he came into the league with a lot of promise. There were several big names from the local basketball scene that came in with him, not to mention that the former PBL team Tanduay at that time decided to join the PBA. So there was a lot of fellow rookie competitors out there including Eric Menk and Sonny Alvarado.

There was no other player in basketball history, local or international, whose career as a cager I followed more closely than that of Seigle’s (Danny, that is). Following in his older brother Andy’s footsteps, he confirmed the many talks spreading around the basketball community that he was the better player. I’m sure, even Andy wouldn’t argue with that.

He introduced a fresh brand of basketball during his time that was becoming more prevalent today. You know, the “big man” who can carry the ball and shoot from the outside. He was filled with immense athleticism that even today, at aged 32, he still got some hops to him. He was one of those few big men during his time, standing 6′6″ or 6′7″ perhaps, who can dribble the ball like he was 5′11” and shoot from beyond the arch. For his level of play, he was given the moniker “Dynamite Danny” and was often referred to as the “Walking Mismatch” because none of his defenders could keep up with him. If he were guarded by a smaller defender, he would post them up. If he were guarded by a big man, he would shoot over them or leave them in the dust by driving to the basket.

I was probably the most petrified people around when he suffered a sprain in the National Team’s exhibition games versus Qatar (in 1998, I think) when he accidentally stepped on one of the opposing player’s foot and he had to be taken out of the national team. Sigh. Not to mention that he sat out a few of the games this conference in the PBA. So, you could probably imagine the feeling of delight I had when he was able to play through the wildcard series, to the quarterfinals, and into the semis. Only to lose last night.

As they always say, there’s always next conference. But I’m still keeping my fingers crossed on another individual recognition for Seigle. I still firmly believe that he is the most talented player in the league to have not won an MVP award…yet.

“survival of the weakest”

It wasn’t how the producers have designed it to be, but a great percentage of Survivor winners fall under this mantra. Survival of the weakest.

Competition should be about pitting tough players against each other instead of taking out the so-called threats early on in the game, leaving the “weaker” players to battle it out amongst themselves. This is how most of the seasons in Survivor have been played out, and I tell you, it isn’t exciting to watch strong players go out one at a time, leaving the weaklings rejoice in their victory.

Hopefully, Survivor: Tocantins (click here for the official cast) will be a totally different tale. As what one castaway said during the initial interviews, he promises to take the strong competitors with him and fight it off to the end, sort of your monumental “may the best (wo)man win” scenario. Let’s hope on that.

Jeff Probst, host of the reality TV series, promises Survivor: Toncantins will be a lot different from Gabon. Now that the cast has been officially revealed, it’s time to focus on first impressions. To be quite honest though, this is not the most exciting batch of castaways I have seen from 18 seasons past. But, who knows? Even Probst himself insist that impressions are a huge part of this game, with emphasis on this upcoming season. This is also reverberated by the contestants themselves who have their own individual assessments and impressions on their tribemates while also keeping those judgments to themselves as to the possibility of being deceived by that very impression.

Spencer Duhm, at 19 is the youngest Survivor castaway ever, and he had to give up an entire semester just to have the chance to compete. With all optimism, Spencer hopes to make Survivor history by being the youngest winner ever after Bob Crowley made such feat in Survivor: Gabon, only the opposite – being the oldest Survivor winner ever.

“I believe I am the youngest Survivor to ever be a part of this show. So I’m going to be the answer to a trivia question, pretty soon,” says Spencer Duhm

To keep things interactive, I need to gather information from my readers based on their own assessments as to how this season will spell out.

As early as now, this is all a wait-and-see matter.

Survivor 18 spoiler alert

Survivor: Tocantins. That will be the new name for the 18th and most recent installment of the hit reality TV series by CBS.

If you’ve been following this blog, then you’re probably aware that this isn’t my first post on the show. In fact, I have dedicated numerous posts in the past detailing the events on the show. As opposed to the past few months, it looks like SurvivorFever.net has got a more thorough and specific list of information on tribe names and castaways. The red buff tribe is called Timbira, and the purple tribe is Jalapao.

There is an interesting mix of personalities, although mostly fall under typical categories. With the new season set to premiere on the 12th of February, this would be the perfect time to assess early favorites and glean over their individual strategies going into the game. While these strategies is bound to change once they finally get the game started, it should provide as an opportunity to see what these castaways have got to offer. I’ve included some interesting ones here.

Of course, Survivor always has this guy who claims to have the outdoor skills and survival expertise. However, none of them really do manage to last. But James Thomas hopes it would be a different tale for him, as he claims that “deer, turkey, wild hog, coyote-everything you’re allowed to hunt in Alabama I’ve hunted…I’m a country boy.” Let’s see how it fairs with his tribemates.

Then there’s those cunning young ones who think they’re too smart for the game. Take a college sophomore like Spencer Duhm (yes, that’s his family name, no puns intended) whose strategy is “you have to assume they’re going to screw you before you screw them over.“

Caroline Eastwood, meanwhile is just plain strange. When asked what preparation she did for the show, she nonchalantly replied: “I got lasered from head to toe…Because I’m ethnic in the hairiest sense of the word. And I did not want to scare people with my overgrown armpits.“

To cap off this list, there are also some players who came into this game only for one thing – the million dollars. And Tyson Apostol from Utah isn’t losing focus of that. “$1 million in two months isn’t a bad paycheck.“

Admittedly, Survivor: Gabon was a tough act to follow. Survivor: Tocantins better live up to the challenge!

*note: post was created via WordPress’ Quickpress tool.

Joker rules the Golden Globe

This year’s Golden Globes has just concluded. Despite much buzz about the early favorites like Brad Pitt’s film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, and “Frost/Nixon”, each earning a total of 5 nominations, “Slumdog Millionaire” was the shock of the night after bagging best screenplay and musical score award and leaving those top nominees empty-handed by the end of the night.

However, the biggest winner for this year’s Golden Globe was the late Heath Ledger. After nearly a year since his death, he earned a supporting actor Golden Globe award for his diabolical depiction of the Joker in the blockbuster movie, The Dark Knight. This made the prospects of him earning a post-humous Oscar award that much closer, an achievement that only Peter Finch has previously been able to do, and that has been over 30 years since (1976, to be exact).

Accepting the award on Ledger’s behalf was the film director, Christopher Nolan. Says Nolan, “All of us who worked with Heath on ‘The Dark Knight’ accept with an awful mixture of sadness and incredible pride…After Heath passed, you saw a hole ripped in the future of cinema.”

Like the performer that he is, Heath Ledger finally took his final bow.

“Heath’s Joker has no grey areas – he’s all rampaging id. He creates a Joker for the ages.”

- Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers

For complete details on the Golden Globe winners, check out here.