Sad news yesterday... Estelle Getty, the actress who played Sophia Petrillo on the classic TV show The Golden Girls passed away at the age of 84. She had endured a long battle with Lewy Body Dementia, a disease exhibiting symptoms similar to Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's, which unfortunately meant she suffered from memory loss. Well, to me she'll always live on as Sophia and be remembered by her wise cracks and brazen remarks, often commenting on her daughter's Dorothy's lack of love life, Blanche's promiscuity and Rose's stupidity.
The Golden Girls is definitely one of my favourite shows of all-time and the funniest sitcom ever. It really was ahead of it's time - it's not everyday that you see 4 elderly ladies discussing their first orgasm, homosexuality, abortion and countless other topics, 20 years ago and always with such humour.
I'm sure that everyone who is at least more than 25 years old will remember The Golden Girls and have watched it at some point. But really, watching this when you're an adult is so different than when you were 10 years-old just for amount of sarcasm or sexually-oriented joke that you would miss. Anyway, let's remember Sophia and the rest of the girls for what they did best: making us laugh. I've chosen 2 clips to post here: the first one "Lesbian Lovers of Miami" is set when Rose (the dumb one) somehow takes Blanche and Dorothy on a TV show she's working on as a lesions couple - how she makes this mistake is hilarious! The second one is a best of some of Dorothy's best moments - her sarcasm never gets old! Sit back, relax and prepare to LOL (a lot!)
My 2 favourite moments on this next one: @2:00 - Rose: I call him Scotty (PUM!) Dorothy: Now you can call him Garbage... @6:40 - Dorothy: Hum, excuse me Rose, may I see that? Spaff! Thank you.
I'm no good with the ladies... My "experiment" yesterday with the scratch cards, how did it turn out? I LOST £15!!!! I spent £20, and ended getting 3 winning cards - £1 and 2x £2. You don't need to be a mathematical genius to realize that it results in a loss of £15...
Things I could've bought with £15:
- At least 2 DVDs - 4 Vodka Red Bull and one beer - A bargain or second-hand Wii game - A t-shirt from this very cool American Site ( SnorgTees ) - A nice meal out - 15 lines at the lottery - ...
And the list goes on and on. No more scratch cards for me, the only thing scratching I'll do now is scratching my head, thinking how stupid I was. Well, at least I tried, and it did bring some excitement and to the office as everyone here was very curious at how this would turn out. 15 pounds.... What a waste :(
Now there's one lady I wouldn't mind getting a lot closer to today! You see, I'm about to do something either extremely clever or incredibly silly. Allow me to elaborate: I keep this glass bowl thing to where I empty my pocket change at the end of the day. It's not like a piggy bank, just a handy place to keep my coins. Anyway, I decided it was time to change them for real money and before I counted it, I told myself that I would spend what I had in coins smaller then 20p I'd spend on scratch cards. Turns out I had just in 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins around £20! Well, never one to back off on my decisions, I'm going to buy now £20 worth of scratch cards - at £1 each, so 20 chances of winning!
On the back of those cards it does say that there's a 1 in 4 chance of winning, so I'm going to buy 20 of the same kind, in a row. In terms of just probability, I could get 5 prizes, but of course this doesn't really mean anything. Time to be optimistic then and hope for the best. I'll post the exciting outcome of this here later today or tomorrow (unless I'm busy burning away all the money I won, eheh!).
Oops, how clumsy of me, I forgot to post the answers to those two Prof. Layton's puzzles I posted before going on holidays! So, without further ado, here they are:
Q:There are 15 people stranded on a tourist boat which will sink in 20 minutes. Using the one lifeboat, which can carry a maximum of 5 people, move the people to the nearby island. The surrounding sea is full of man-eating sharks, so swimming is out of the question. If it the round trip from the ship to the island and back takes 9 minutes, how many passengers can be saved?
A:You can make 3 round trips in 20 minutes. But you can only save 4 people at a time as one person has to be the driver, therefore 12 people plus the driver survive, so the answer is 13.
Q:There are 10 jars each with 50 pieces of candy in them. These have been divided randomly into half, just by eyeball estimation, and then placed in separate bags. This made 20 bags. What is the probability that the average number of candies in one bag is 25?"
A:100%. You have 10x50=500 pieces of candy and 20 bags. 500/20=25 pieces per bagon average.
I'm back! Actually, I've been back for a couple of days already, lack of time prevented me from posting here (blame Mario Kart Wii and the stupid cheating AI - I hate blue shells!!). Here's a quick recap of my holidays in Porto:
The baby: I arrived on the 28th of June, and my sister was planning a half-a-birthday party for my niece, which was meant to be a surprise for me. Well, in a fortunate turn of events, I accidently booked an earlier flight (6.30 am!!) so I arrived much earlier than expected and so the surprise was on her! The party was lovely and fun, and even though little Bia had a bit of a fever, she was as nice as ever! Here's how she usually looks, happy and smiling:
So happy in her Bumbo™
Fortunately she got better really quickly and I managed to spend a lot of time with them both (mother and daughter). It's amazing how the difference 3 months make in a baby's life. She was so much more aware and playful and already showing signs of a strong personality. See you again in 2,5 months! :)
The wedding: And what a woderful wedding it was, such a happy day for the lovely couple. Everything was just great - the weather, lots of food, lots of drinking (although not for me as I was driving...) and lots of people! Besides my closest friends, also got a chance to see some old friends - some that I hadn't seen in quite a few years - and it's funny how when we're back together everything still feels the same as before. The jokes are still the same, the making fun of me (in a positive way) is still the same and the gossiping still the same too! And how much fun was commenting on some of the awful outifts on display there... Anyway, the newlyweds are now on their honeymoon, enjoying themselves (in many ways, I would say) but once again to congratulations to them and all the best!
Where's Waldo...
While showing the photo above around the office, one of the girls asked me if the bride (who looked absolutely amazing btw) had a bird stuck on her dress... I was like "huh??" but then noticed it too... Can you see that "thing" below her waist??
I dont' think it's part of her dress, and if it was, who's holding that? You can clearly see where her arms are, not holding anything... Any ideas? Could it be the Spiritual Dove of Love? :)
The Fitness:
Quite a few people asked me if I'd been going to the gym or told that I looked a bit more muscular. I guess that, in a nice way, this validates what I wrote about my experience with Wii Fit :) So, here's to another 50 days! My sister did a few exercises on it and she had sore legs for the next couple of days! It's safe to assume it works then.
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Just another quick tidbit: I did drive along the beach blasting "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time". As I told you before, to me this song has such as fresh, 'summery' feel, and it felt really good driving along the seaside, gorgeous weather, not a care in the world - just driving. And during that same week, Mariah released to video for it, and guess what? It has a summer/beach theme :) I knew it! Here it is for your viewing pleasure ( I guess the amount of pleasure may vary... if you're a straight man enjoy it, eheh!)
The time is finally here to back to my Motherland. It's been 3 (long) months since I've been there, so quite looking forward to go back! Besides all the usual cliches (family, friends, etc) I really miss driving. Just the feeling of driving a car, speeding along , listening to some good tunes (especially this one), oh do I miss that. So in 2 days, room vroom - and on the right side of the road :)
And I'll be definitely be seeing this cute little face lots (and lots) of times! She'll be 6 months on Saturday. 6 months already, can you believe it? Happy half-birthday!! I expect her to be very different from the last time I saw her, 3 months ago. That's a long time in baby-time!!
And about a week from now I'll be attending a wedding! Two very dear friends of mine are getting married (with each other). I've know them for a good 10 years, and they were already together, so about time! I just hope that my weather curse doesn't strike again, or else there will be rain. About 2 years ago, mid-June went to a wedding there, and it rained - A LOT! There was heavy rain and a big thunderstorm. So, my apologies in advance if it does rain on that special day... I'll be positive and predict lovely sunny weather, maybe my curse is still exhausted from all that hard work in Italy! Anyhow, rain or no rain, it will be a really happy day.
Best wedding cake ever!
I hope I don't get asked to read at this wedding. When my other friends got married 2 years ago, I was asked to read a passage from the bible, just a few minutes before the ceremony. Well, somebody forgot to tell me that the lines in bold were meant to be read 3 times with the audience repeating it. Result: the priest behind me, kicking me while I was reading it, until he interrupted me and took over and read it properly. How rude!! :)
See you in a few days ;)
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Because I'm such a nice guy, here's a little something for while I'm away: 2 brand new Prof. Layton's puzzles :) Remember him? Answers when I get back (or you google it...)
"There are 15 people stranded on a tourist boat which will sink in 20 minutes. Using the one lifeboat, which can carry a maximum of 5 people, move the people to the nearby island. The surrounding sea is full of man-eating sharks, so swimming is out of the question. If it the round trip from the ship to the island and back takes 9 minutes, how many passengers can be saved?"
Hint: Your first immediate answer is probably wrong.
"There are 10 jars each with 50 pieces of candy in them. These have been divided randomly into half, just by eyeball estimation, and then placed in separate bags. This made 20 bags. What is the probability that the average number of candies in one bag is 25?"
Yesterday the cute animated on-screen balance board informed that it was my 50th day using Wii Fit. I bet the question on everyone's mind after seeing it in motion was "Does Wii Fit work?" and after 50 days of "using" it the short answer is "yes, it does".
For those unware of what is this Wii Fit, it's a "game" (more on this later) that comes with balance board that can measure a user's weight and center of gravity. There are four categories of exercises to choose from - Yoga, Muscle Workouts, Aerobic Exercises and Balance games. They're designed to improve your posture, tone your muscles, burn fat and improve your balance respectively. To fully understand it, nothing like seeing it in action:
If you're expecting a great and fun game with Wii Fit, then I advise you to look elsewhere. There are some mini-games included, but very short and shallow.
The Yoga and Muscle sections are completely fitness oriented, you'll only see an rather spooky on-screen instructor (they seem to have no mouths!) and he/she will perform the exercise with you. These sections are, at least for me, what Wii Fit is all about.
Wii Fit Yoga, like proper yoga, is all about stretching your body and maintaining your balance - the difference being the balance board is there to measure performance. Some of the poses I can do quite well, others are still impossible! And it is very satisfying to manage to do a pose and maintain your balance on one that you couldn't at first do.
The Muscle Workouts are more traditional exercises, involving lots of lunging and bending and some very hard press-up sequences. Do this properly and I guarantee you'll feel out of breath (I know I do!) and, if you're not used to this whole fitness thing and didn't warm-up properly, with aching limbs the next day. One piece of advice: go easy on the lunges. I wanted to unlock new stuff, so on my first day did a LOT of lunges. Result: my legs ached really bad for the next few days...
Push-up and single arm stand: you won't be laughing after 15 of these!
The highlights of the Aerobic sections are jogging and hula-hooping. Jogging is what you'd expect, except you're standing on the same place. The cool thing is that you see your Mii on the screen going along a nice park and you'll see and meet other Miis on along the way. It's a laugh to run along my friends, Jesus, Einsten, Miss Piggy even Mariah! Hula-hooping is, quite simply put, a nightmare. Yeah, one minute or so it's fun, you look silly, etc. But doing the 10-min workout (5 each way) is completely exhausting!
One of the great thing is that the software keeps track of your progress, weight and BMI. Being able to track your balance does add novelty value and provides enough motivation to play Wii Fit every day - sometimes for ten minutes, sometimes for an hour. I don't know how long I'll keep this up for, but I do know switching on the Wii is a lot easier than going to the gym. Wii Fit is not as beneficial, undoubtedly, but a lot less intimidating and cheaper.
So, what about results? After 50 or so days I have to admit that there are no dramatic changes in my body - I didn't just wake up with Brad Pitt's body (unfortunately...). Having said that, and fully aware of the limitations of Wii Fit, I do feel more fit and a bit more toned as well. My weight is more or less the same, but my body fat index has gone down. Suddenly my legs feel a bit harder, my posture's a lot better and some t-shirts a bit tighter! So, I guess it works then :) One thing I know, between sitting on the coach and a session on Wii Fit, I know which one is better for me.
Conclusion: If you go to a gym regularly, then well done, keep doing that! If, like me, you're a bit less inclined to gyms, then Wii Fit can only help you. It's definitely a case of "Doing something is better than doing nothing."
"I complained that I had no shoes, till I saw someone who had no feet."
Strange Friday night this was. It started with a bit'o drama, as I stumbled upon Superheroe friend's ubber-secret (from me at least) new blog. He had a post regarding that night in Torino and I finally got to see what he really thought of the night and me in general. As I read that, I felt embarrassed, humiliated and disappointed, a whole new world of drama was starting to ensue.
Coincidentally or not, I decided to watch a special edition of American Idol called Idol Gives Back which is a star-studed event, with the purpose of raising money to help children and young people in extreme poverty in Africa and the U.S..
There were many nice performances, and celebrities and fun moments, but what really touched were these segments they showed of real (and tragic) stories in Africa. And suddenly it hit me: here I am, in my comfortable flat, eating a nice pizza feeling sorry for myself for a stupid thing and some opinion of this guy over me on his meaningless blog. Yet, at this precise moment there are people who really are struggling and fighting for survival, people who lost everything in life.
One of these segments showed a lady (or an angel as Bono rightfully described her) who dedicated her life helping other people, orphans in particular, with AIDS. She had already lost her 3 (yes, 3..) children in the battle against AIDS. Watch this:
This next one with Annie Lennox (who also gave a very emotional performance that night) tells of the amazing story of these 4 brothers who lost everyone in their family to the HIV virus. The oldest of these brothers bears more responsibility and faces more pressure than I'll ever know:
So, waking up (safely) in a hospital or worrying about how I embarrassed myself doesn't seem so important anymore, right? And I could keep going, telling about how a child dies every 30 seconds in Africa against malaria and how a 10 dollar mosquito net could save one life, or how 2 dollars could provide medicine to one person for one year.
Yes, our problems are ours and we suffer with them. But still, in our times of "adversity" it's good to remind ourselves how fortunate and blessed we are.
May I suggest you visit the following websites and donate? Doesn't have to be much, even one dollar/euro/pound will make a difference. Reach your pocket. Feel that coin there? You could probably spare that couldn't you? Then donate it and help saves lives.
Spread this to all your friends, and there are so many ways we can help.
Mariah closed the show with a beautiful and powerful performance of Fly Like A Bird. And I think it has a really good message, something to remember in my (your) next difficult time or situation:
The following should be filed under "very silly"! My friend Sara showed me this very cool website that creates cards, but the difference is that it uses text to speech. In other words, you type your text, choose the language and the character and then you hear your text told by that character.
Whats so special about this? It's HILARIOUS!! The best greeting cards ever! In a very silly kind of way.... We were just cracking up yesterday, typing silly things and then hearing it. Hours of (stupid) fun!
" Well, when we got to the club the same body that I repeatedly asked to be touched starting failing on me and that's when the real "fun" began. To make a long story short, there was lots of puking, sweating, puking, unconsciousness and puking."
For obvious reasons, I used an Italian accent :)
And I like to call this one "Naughty Mary Poppins"!! ;) (Link to card!)
If you're as silly as we are and come up with a funny card, feel free to post a link on the comments! The website is called Acapela Greeting Cads, click here to visit it.
Right, Part 2, the AH period... You know those episodes on some TV shows that start with something strange and unexpected and then they show the "16 hours before" and only then you see what led to that situation? Well, that's exactly how I felt.
The "strange and unexpected" bit here was me waking up in an hospital in Torino, 7.30 am. I woke up, very confused and disoriented and the first thing I saw was the IV line on my arm. Then this very nice nurse saw that I was awake, and started talking to me (in Italian, but fortunately then in English) and I only remember thinking that the nurse was one of the girls I'd met the night before. I thought "what an amazing girl, how does she manage to go out and drink and then come work as a nurse?". Obviously, it wasn't the same girl... Then Superheroe friend came to pick me up and take me home. I only noticed how his clothes were different from what I remembered and then I realized I didn't actually remember much! The last image in my mind was when we were about to leave for this club at around 1.30, 6 hours before. The rest? A complete blank!
So, I woke up at around 2 pm, still couldn't remember a thing. I was feeling perfectly ok, had my "morning" yogurt, noticed a couple of bruises on my leg but nothing else. What happened between 1.30 and 7.30? I was about to find out....
6 hours earlier:
The last thing I can remember is when we were about to leave and walk to the club. It was a 20-min walk, and from what I was told I:
took photos
sang Touch My Body
started chatting with some random Spanish girls
sang Touch My Body
sang Touch My Body (see a pattern here??)
Yep, these are the real locations (although that's not really me). SH actually took me to all these places, a real trip down memory-loss lane :)
Well, when we got to the club the same body that I repeatedly asked to be touched starting failing on me and that's when the real "fun" began. To make a long story short, there was lots of puking, sweating, puking, unconsciousness and puking (on me and on others...), not to mention a world of trouble and worries for the poor people who had to take care of me. Around 4am, after an hour or so of lying on the club's men toilet, SH friend decided to take to the hospital. Carrying me was like carrying a dead body (or so I was told) and to make matters worse there were some exciting stairs to get to the main street level!
From there, I patiently for SH friend to arrive on his car to take to the hospital. Feeling a bit under the weather, I decided to lean on railings on the sidewalk for some "support" (the actual description of this is that they put me against it and so I stayed there "folded like a book", legs on one side, upper torso and head on the other side... just resting my eyes!).
Next stop: the ER (but without George Clooney...). From there on I stayed there, slept for about an hour, getting my IV and that brings to the waking up in the hospital scene!
Suffice to say that the next couple of days were not the ideal holidays, but that's life! What really happened to me remains a bit of a mystery.
The amount of alcohol I had was by my own standards nowhere enough to cause such a strong reaction and the drinking bit of the night took place in controlled environment, not like there were loads of drinks. The consensus seems to be that I had digestion process stopped (my puke "revealed" this) and the vodka made it a lot worse and everything was a mess in my body and voila! A trip to the hospital and a horrible night for everyone! On hindsight, we were watching a Madonna special on MTV while we were having dinner, I think that was the cause for the digestion problems, thanks Madge!!
Maybe these guys could help....
P.S: If any of the people who helped that night happen to read this: Thank you!! (and sorry...)
Before I continue the Italian saga, I just want to share this strange dream I had today. In this dream Mariah Carey suffered a terrible death in a swimming pool. Apparently she was having a night time swim and then it started raining so she opened her umbrella (while still in the pool). Somehow (and remember it was a dream) a piece of fabric from the umbrella got stuck in her throat and she suffocated.
What followed (in the dream that is) was me finding out these tragic events and being absolutely devastated. I even remember in the dream seeing the cover of a newspaper and the article describing her death and starting to cry.... I was with some friends at the time and what to we do next? We go to the shopping centre, naturally, to mourn her death! There we find lots of other people doing the same. After this it gets slightly fuzzier, but I do remember going to MacDonalds and I was crying, the waiter was crying, everyone was crying...
I woke up very upset and the dream was vivid that I couldn't actually be 100% sure it wasn't real! Still sleepy, I rushed to my laptop and went to mariahdaily.com and the website was down! In that split-second I assumed the worst, but then went to CNN and phew! nothing there! Mariah was is still alive!
On a related note, I think I know why I had this dream at this particular time. Mariah is currently in Hawaii shooting the video for her 3rd single of E=MC2, I'll Be Loving U Long Time. When I read this, it immediately brought back memories of Aaliyah's terrible death when she also went to Hawai to shoot a video. In August 2001, just after finishing filming of the "Rock the Boat" video, Aaliyah and various members of her record company died on a plane crash. She was only 22.
Here's one of my all-time favourite songs (still on my everyday playlist) Try Again:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Charles Dickens was probably looking into the future and describing my recent trip to Turin when he wrote this famous opening line for A Tale of Two Cities. If he was, he was right on the spot!
There were 2 completely distinct periods during my short stay in Torino: BH and AH (that's Before Hospital and After Hospital...). For the time being let's just focus on the BH period, ok?
So I went to Turin a couple of weeks ago on holiday and also to visit a friend who live there (who shall refer to as Superheroe friend for privacy sake). Seemed like killing two birds with one stone, visiting Superheroe friend and eating some nice italian food. Of course, me being one of the luckiest people alive (note: sarcasm), just the day before I got a nasty cold sore and the weather forecast was for rain for all 5 five days (yeah, in Italy in late May...). I thought that was just bad luck, but little did I know that was nothing compared to what was heading my way... But I digress.
It all started with what seemed like a really loooong day: I worked all day (having just returned from Birmingham), came home to get my luggage, went to London where I had a date with a guy I'd met the previous weekend (yes, with luggage trailing behind me and I don't travel light!). Then stayed at Tatiana's house, where I slept for a couple of hours and then headed to Stansted airport (which is just horrible during the night) and got on the plane to Turin. Met Superheroe friend just outside the airport in Turin and from then on I was on holiday, yay!
After settling down, I was treated with a guided tour around Torino and what a beautiful city it was! This was also the one morning when it was warm and sunny and everything looked even better. One of my favourite spots was Piazza Vittorio (future set of humillliation, but lets leave that for later), such a large gorgeous plazza with a river nearby.
Piazza Vittorio: beautiful and look, they're setting the stage for my "performance"
He also took me to this very cool place called Eatily, where I bought the biggest breadsticks I'd ever seen to bring back to office (and they absolutely loved them, disappeared in one day!). Another treat was some of the best ice-cream I've ever tasted, so creamy, so delicious! Of course being me, I made a mess eating it (yes Sara, napkins, napkins...) as it was huge and it started melting all over my hands, face, arms, well, all over! These are just some of the highlights of the BH period. Of course there were more sightseeing, some shopping (under lots of rain) and partying as well, just as holidays should be. What went wrong then? Lol, cliffhanger here, stay tuned for Part 2! In the meantime, some more Turin sights, enjoy!
This blog seems to have more lives than a cat, it's back yet again! During this hiatus period there were a few times I wished I was still posting here and a few events that I wanted to share. So I decided to bring it back from the dead.
One of the things that made me kill this blog a couple of months ago was that I somehow felt the need to write new post on a regular basis. This (along with me actually being very busy) made posting a bit of a chore instead of being something fun. For Life #3, I'll only be posting when I feel like it and when there's actually something I want to write about :)
Now that we got that out of the way, let the fun begin! For my first post (well, first for this after death period) I just wanted to share this video of MCC (that's Mrs. Mariah Carey Cannon.... *sigh*) throwing the first pitch on a baseball game in Japan. This video got more than 2 million views on Youtube in just 4 days and it's so damn funny! No matter how many times I watch it it always cracks me up!
Oh Mariah, you're hot tranny mess! There's actually another video where Mariah's practising the throw where she did a lot better. Other higlights include her warning the baseball player player that she wont' catch the ball because it will "wreck her nails". Watch the video for more over-the-top Divaness:
What did I tell you yesterday? Mariah moves past Elvis Presley and is now in second place for most No. 1s in the rock era, as "Touch My Body" soars 15-1 on the Billboard Hot 100 to become her 18th chart-topper. Only the Beatles stand in her way now, with 20 No.1 hits, but hopefully it won't take long before she surpasses them.
With "Touch My Body" breaks the record for the first-week sales of a digital single, record previously held by Rihanna's Umbrella (curiously both song share the same producer, The Dream)!
Madonna also released her (admittedly entertaining) single last week, but was no match for Mimi, as even with Justin's help she only managed to land the number 3 position... So, all there's left to say is this:
Yes, I'm back to the daily routine. I know I'm not alone when I say that the first few days after being on holidays are really depressing, waking up early again, going to work, having to work... It'll all fall into place again after this week, I just wish I could fast-forward this next couple of days till the weekend.
In a way it is good to have this feeling, as it is proof that I had a great time on last week! Although it was marred by a less than ideal situation happening to someone very close to me, I still managed to spend some great times with everyone I miss there, especially with my little niece (who turned 3 months just last Friday). She is getting so big so fast and she's just the cutest baby ever, always smiling :) and she already has a little tooth coming out!
I also couldn't resist getting another "lucky" bracelet (which can't be bought, has to be offered by someone so I forced Sara to buy me one). Inspired by the movie I mentioned before "The Nines" I got a green one, which is for luck:
As you can see, I already had a red one (for love) and a yellow one (for money). To be perfectly honest, I don't think they work (big suprise there) as I'm not rich or happily in love... but I've wearing at least one of these bracelets for a good 6 years now and for some reason and don't seem to be able to stop wearing them. Maybe all I needed was a green one :) Well, maybe it's already the works of the green bracelet, but I'm feeling quite optimistic about April! Here are some highlights:
- Any day now: Mariah will (hopefully) get her 18th number song with Touch My Body. This will make her surpass Elvis (who has 17) and leave her just behind the Beatles (who have 20) as the artist with most #1s OF ALL TIME!!! - April 12th: Mario Kart Wii released.... Vrooom vrooom!! - April 15: E=MC2, Mariah's new album release date and lots of promotional interviews and performances, including Oprah and American Idol :D - April 25th: Wii Fit released, the new "game" that comes with the balance board/scale which will hopefully make make me sweat (and fit...)
Me in a few days ;)
I know, silly things right? But happiness is in the small things in life and I'm happy I'm able to get all excited with stuff like this. And who knows what else might be lurking around the corner for me? No one, except Maya of course... But she seems to share my optimism for this month.
My card for April is Death, which is by no means a bad or tragic card. It symbolizes a change, the death of old habits and situations, which to be honest sound great. Maya says: "Thanks to the strong energies of this month, Gemini will be able to overcome obstacles, and obtain numerous victories". And who am I to disagree?? ;)
I'm finally going on a well deserved holidays, back home to Porto (that's in Portugal, in case someone less geographically gifted is wondering...). YAY!! As usual I expect it to rain, as in the 2 years I've been going there on hols, it always has to rain. Cold winter? Rain. Huge drought in the summer? Rain. But in the midst of seeing all those familiar faces again it doesn't really matter, so let it rain!
It's been 3 months since I last was "home" and so much has changed since my last visit. For starters, it'll be my first time there since this. But not all changes were this positive, unfortunately as (sad) recent events ocurred that'll change the life of people very dear and close to me (and I won't say more on this). Anyway, let's be optimistic for a change and believe that everything is going to be just fine! Oh yes it will!!
Of course, one of the things I'm most excited about is seeing my gorgeous niece again! She'll be 3 months next week, all grown up! I've decided I'll be the uncle who may be far away, but whenever he goes there takes lots of presents! (which by the way I still have to pack, somehow I always leave packing for the very last minute... )
Aww! Cute or what? Well, tomorrow I won't need any photos because I'll be there with her (but hopefully I won't have to change any diapers...).
I won't be posting much on the next few days (if at all), as I'll be busy trying to see everyone I miss here and catching up on everything (yes, that includes all the latest gossip!). And posting from my PC there would probably be an adventure in itself, as it's from around this time:
So, to all my friends in Portugal it's a "see you soon". To everyone else, wishes of a Happy Easter, lots and lots of chocolate eggs!
And I couldn't end this post without a little treat for all of you, could I? This is another new song from Mariah's new album E=MC² (the title obviously reflects Mariah's inner scientist, she's a true Einstein!) called Migrate that she performed just a few days ago (with T-Pain) on Saturday Night Live. I love this new song, can't help but to bounce to the awesome beat ;) Should be even better on HQ studio version, but we still have to wait a few more days for that. And after seeing this performance I am so taking a cane with me the next time I go out!
Enjoy the video for Migrate live at SNL by Mariah Carey and T-Pain:
What a deceiving title, huh? If only life's riddles were as easy as Professor Layton's.... (note: they're not). Anyway, remember those puzzles I posted yesterday? At least for these I could find the solutions, so here they are:
1) A glass jar holds a single germ. After one minute, the germ slits into two germs. One minute after that, the two germs each split again, forming a total of four germs. Continuing at this rate, a single germ can multiply to fill a whole jar in exactly one hour. Knowing this, how long in minutes would it take to fill the jar if you had started with two germs? Solution: No, the jar won't fill up twice as fast, duh!! You only save the one minute that required the first germ to split into two. So, the answer is 60-1 minutes (or 59 minutes).
2) Mice are famous for their ability to multiply at breakneck speeds. The type of mouse we have here gives birth once a month, birthing 12 babies each time. Baby mice mature and can give birth two months after they are born. You picked up one of these darling baby mice at the pet shop and brought it home the day after it was born. In 10 months from now, how many mice will you have? Solution : Only 1! The mouse can't breed with any other mouse to produce babies, now can he/she?!
3) Three identical-looking umbrellas are sitting upright in a stand. Assuming the owners don't check their umbrella's labels, what percentage chance is there that only two people will walk off with their own umbrella? Solution : 0%! If two people walk away with their own umbrella, the third must have his/her own umbrella aswell!
It's been a while since I haven't been disappointed by a movie. The last "offender" was Beowulf, which I'd heard and read great things about, but didn't do anything for me. And there's still something about human faces realistically done in CGI that creeps the hell out of me! So yeah, slightly entertaining but ultimately a disappointment.
What is really great is when you set out to watch a movie that you know nothing about and then it surprises you and grabs you from the opening till the end credits. This time was "The Nines", starring the ever-so-hot-has-to-include-shirtless-scene-everytime Ryan Reynolds, Melissa McCarthy ('Gilmore Girls') and a Hope Davis (don't know her from anywhere, but she was good).
As I already mentioned, I knew nothing about this movie, except for an image from it I'd seen a while ago and that for some reason really caught my attention (no, it wasn't Ryan shirtless!), as in "I gotta watch this". This was the image:
See, nothing particulary eye-catching, but it really spiked my interest, it just looked so tense! Without giving too much away, The Nines is a trilogy of back-to-back stories with unexpected links. Those links are what makes the underlying story, but I'll leave that for you to find out.
The three main actors play different characters, which might not be so different after all... For example, in the first chapter the Ryan plays a likeable TV soap star who has a nervous breakdown. He sets fire to his home, swallows a cocktail of bourbon and drugs, and ends up under house arrest to avoid prison. Then on the second chapter he plays a gay-TV writer, who dumps his best friend and main star Melissa (yes, she's playing herself the real life actress Melissa) to further his career. And it's all related. Confusing? Yes, and intentionally so. But it's never boring.
3-in-1
This movie kind of reminded me of Mulholland Drive and Donnie Darko. OK, let's not get carried away here. Although The Nines is without a doubt a very satisfying movie in a twisted kind of way, it's not quite on the same level as those. But if you liked those two movies, it is definitely worth a watch. Hey, if it's recommended by me...
Allow me to spoil you one of the surprises of this movie: Ryan Reynolds can actually act :)
Her name is Valentina and she's become a bit of a celebrity ever since her UNBELIEVABLE rendition of "Ken Lee" aka "Without You" on Bulgarian Idol. Her performance is always among the top-viewed videos on Youtube and now she's "performing" the song again!! It's amazing how the internet allows people to have their 15 minutes of fame.
Here is the new and (slightly) improved version of "Ken Lee":
Oh, bless her for actually trying to learn the lyrics! Still she manages to include some great lines such as:
When I gez aju zavateh nay lechooo go
Ken Lee ee libu dibu douchooo - (notice the subtle changes from the previous version)
Valentina, you're awesome and good luck on your international career. Don't ever change, we love ya! :)
1) A glass jar holds a single germ. After one minute, the germ slits into two germs. One minute after that, the two germs each split again, forming a total of four germs. Continuing at this rate, a single germ can multiply to fill a whole jar in exactly one hour. Knowing this, how long in minutes would it take to fill the jar if you had started with two germs?
2) Mice are famous for their ability to multiply at breakneck speeds. The type of mouse we have here gives birth once a month, birthing 12 babies each time. Baby mice mature and can give birth two months after they are born. You picked up one of these darling baby mice at the pet shop and brought it home the day after it was born. In 10 months from now, how many mice will you have?
3) Three identical-looking umbrellas are sitting upright in a stand. Assuming the owners don't check their umbrella's labels, what percentage chance is there that only two people will walk off with their own umbrella?
I come from a family where all the women from my mother's side are completely obsessed with cleaning (think Bree^2 - minus the funny side - and my mother was/is definitely the worst offender), which probably made me into something of a clean freak too. Even simple ordinary things like walking barefoot on a hotel room toilet and showers makes me very uncomfortable. Still, there's this rebellious side of me, gained from of years of oppression at home that makes completely untidy. This means that if you came to my flat you'd see lots of clothes, magazines, wires and other stuff lying everywhere, but on immaculately clean floors...
So yesterday it was time for another exciting evening doing my housework. But something was different this time, I had a smile on my face and did all that almost dancing. The reason for that? Well, keep reading... (note: it's silly)
I did my vacuuming...
Did my ironing...
I even did my Wii exercise :) So, what was the big secret? This song!!
This is one of the first official dance remixes to "Touch My Body" and it's so danceable, I love it!
If you're in need of a good song to do your cleaning, work out or just shake your booty, here it is, for your downloading pleasure, it's the Touch My Body Seamus Haji Club Mix!
Sad news yesterday... Estelle Getty, the actress who played Sophia Petrillo on the classic TV show The Golden Girls passed away at the age of 84. She had endured a long battle with Lewy Body Dementia, a disease exhibiting symptoms similar to Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's, which unfortunately meant she suffered from memory loss.
Where's Waldo...
