All The Very Latest Transfer Gossip, With The Transfer Window Opening In Just 12 hours

It's New Years Eve, at least here in the UK right now, and the temperature is rising rapidly in the world of football - as speculation on where some footballers might be plying their trade in 2010 will come to light from tomorrow onwards, as a month of transfer activity officially begins!

Arsenal, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Wigan, Bari, Stoke, Real Madrid, Everton, Sporting Gijon, Aston Villa, Borussia Monchengladbach, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Moucron, Fiorentina, West Ham, Sporting Lisbon, Lyon, Auxerre, Portsmouth, Valencia, Wolves, Blackburn, Besiktas, Derby, Forest, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Lorient, Newcastle, Leeds, Burnley, QPR, Ipswich, Sheffield United, West Brom and Swindon are all caught up in the transfer gossip as we speak.

Is your club involved?

Here is a round up:

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will move for Liverpool trio Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard if the Reds finish outside the top four in the Premier League this season and are forced to sell their superstars - The Sun

City boss Roberto Mancini is close to making Inter Milan defender Ivan Cordoba his first signing at Eastlands - Daily Telegraph

Chelsea are set to smash the British transfer record with a £40m swoop for Valencia striker David Villa - Daily Express

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has rejected claims a deal has already been struck to sell Franck Ribery to Real Madrid in the summer for a fee of around £49m - German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung

Liverpool have held preliminary talks with Crystal Palace about signing highly-rated teenager Victor Moses - Daily Star

Ruud van Nistelrooy's wages have scared off Blackburn but Liverpool can just about run to the £87,500 a week he wants to leave Real Madrid - The Guardian

Everton manager David Moyes hopes to sign 17-year-old midfielder Maxime Lestienne from Belgian side Moucron - Daily Mail

Manchester United will move to bring in a goalkeeper with Lyon's Hugo Lloris their target, but not at the current £20m asking price - The Guardian

Manchester City have made an enquiry about signing £6m-rated Bari defender Leonardo Bonucci - Daily Mail

Aston Villa have joined Liverpool and Tottenham in the chase for West Ham midfielder Scott Parker, who could be available for around £8m - The Guardian

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez wants to take Argentina winger Maxi Rodriguez on loan from Atletico Madrid, while out-of-favour Reds forward Ryan Babel is set to reject moves to Fiorentina and Besiktas - Daily Mail

Birmingham are ready to rival Wolves in the £3million chase for Aston Villa defender Craig Gardner - Express & Star

Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford has put a £2m move to Newcastle on hold so he can help his side try to upset Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday - Daily Mirror

Wigan have confirmed they have agreed a loan deal for Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic - Sky Sports

Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan is planning a £3m bid for Leeds striker Robert Snodgrass - The Sun

Portsmouth have invited Manchester City to make an offer for their £8m-rated defender Younes Kaboul - Daily Mirror

Sporting Gijon have no plans to sell highly-rated midfielder Michel during the January transfer window. The 24-year-old has been strongly linked with a New Year switch, with in-form Premier League outfit Birmingham City reported to be interested - Sky Sports

Wolves are weighing up a £1.5m bid for Derby County winger Kris Commons - Express & Star

Mick McCarthy wants Sheffield United contract rebel Matthew Kilgallon to come to Molineux but faces a test in prising him away from the Blades - Express & Star

Arsenal are monitoring QPR's 15-year-old "wonderkid" Raheem Sterling and Arsene Wenger will do his best to stop Jack Wilshere joining Burnley on loan, following injuries to Cesc Fábregas and Denilson - The Guardian

Everton manager David Moyes hopes to sign 17-year-old midfielder Maxime Lestienne from Belgian side Moucron - Daily Mail

Wigan have made a shock move to sign Ivory Coast centre half Steve Gohouri from German side Borussia Monchengladbach - Daily Mirror

West Brom have struck an agreement with Auxerre with Auxerre to bring in defender Gabriel Tamas on loan. The Championship side were linked with a move for the Romanian in the summer and are now set to recruit him on a deal until the end of the season - Sky Sports

Sheffield United striker Jamie Ward is set to sign a new deal despite interest from West Brom - Daily Mirror

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has admitted that he would welcome the opportunity to bring Inter Milan defender Maicon to Eastlands - Sky Sports

Derby, Nottingham Forest and Ipswich are all chasing in-form Swindon striker Charlie Austin - Daily Mirror

Burnley, meanwhile, are close to agreeing terms with Algeria's captain, Yazid Mansouri. A bid of £1m should persuade Lorient to let the midfielder strut his stuff Turf Moor - The Guardian

Good Bye Noughties. I'll Miss You.

You can always tell when I'm holiday. I never update the blog. That's because I have better things to do than sit in front of the PC when I'm on holiday, godammit! (such as sitting in front of the TV playing Dragon Age: Origins on my XBox...)

Anyway, it's finally the end of 2009, and the Noughties. Wow, one whole decade has gone by in the 21st century.

Looking back at the decade, I can't believe how much I've been through in these ten years. I graduated from university (despite my best efforts to prolong the studying experience). Bummed around in Poland for half a year, doing social work and drinking a lot (I blame Poland for my alcoholic tendencies and for forcing me to acquire an insatiable taste for beer and vodka). Got a job at The Newspaper when I came back (which led to a lot of traveling, concert-going, movie-watching and meeting personal idols). Turned three decades old (which didn't suck as much as I thought it would). Finally moved out and got my own pad (I'm a big boy now, ma!). Started blogging (which I've been doing for half a decade now WTF).

Speaking of blogging, I've somehow managed to keep this blog semi-anonymous for almost five years. Those of you who have followed the blog all these years (THANKS!) and/or know me in real life would know that I have always been particularly anal about being anonymous on the blog. Heck, in the beginning, I even went to the extent of actually going around asking people not to link their pictures of me to my blog, AND wearing an Optimus Prime mask to the Nuffnang 1st Anniversary Party.

At first I did it because I didn't want my boss to find out I had a blog. Then when I found out that he knew about it anyway, I decided I'll keep it anonymous because it let me write about whatever I wanted outside of work. Then later down the road, when excerpts of my blog posts ended up in my work articles (and vice versa, to a lesser extent), I decided I would still stay anonymous because it seemed more fun that way (and I wanted to see if anyone would accuse Real-Life-Me of plagiarizing Blog-Me).

Nowadays though, I've been getting really lazy about this anonymous thingy. Most of you know who I am already anyway. And since I've been hanging out with those crazy bloggers so much these days, there is no way I'd be fully anonymous anymore. As for the 'don't want office to find out' excuse, with a certain femes colleague of mine already openly blogging/Twitting etc. etc. about anything he wanted, I figured, if HE could do it, why can't I?

So, slowly and surely, I started being less anal about being linked to pictures, even posting some myself here. People have even been using my actual name on their links these days, and so far, so good, I haven't been struck down by lightning or worse, gotten a cease and desist memo from anyone yet (touch wood).

So there ya go. In conjunction with the new decade, I now declare that Eye On Everything is no longer an anonymous blog. Doesn't mean I'm gonna be parading camwhore pictures. It's still gonna be pretty much the same as before - same ugly layout, same content, and basically the same nonsense.

Don't hold your breathe for endless camwhore picture posts or me actually publishing my name openly though. This is still eyeris.blogspot.com, not michaelcheang.com.

Oh, oops.

`-` german supermodel claudia ciesla `-`

Big Boss Season 3 Contestant Claudia Ciesla in a Desi look — German supermodel turned actress & singer Claudia Ciesla grew up in the town of Bukow, Poland, five miles from the Czech border in an area called Silesia with a minority German population. Her father is Polish and her mother is German. This German beauty had been roped in as one of the inmates at the Bigg Boss house in the third season of the reality show but not fortunate enough to make it to the finals of the same.

JibJab: Never a Year Like '09

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

U.S. History in the Making (Health Care)

(Big3News)

My political predictions have once again proven true.

I predicted at the onset of the national and Congressional debate over health care coverage in the US that we would see a bill pass both House and Senate but that it would a "watered-down" bill that addressed preexisting conditions and state-to-state plan probability more than it addressed the larger problem of controlling costs.

This Senate bill hardly resembles what I would call "sweeping reform."

In the course of the debate over the past few months I was in the "incrementalism-reform camp" that was frustrating my fellow Democrats advocating for single-payer, but in the end this bill will fall into indeed too small a step. I was only saying along with others that we have studied government and nothing this big is done all at once. However, like I have heard many say, I would have liked to get a lot more out this process.

The last time I spoke of this I was urging Harry Reid for "reconciliation" in the Senate; without the civics lesson needed here it is quicker to say that once the public option was removed from the table, the process of reconciliation was removed as well.

To encapsulate what is going on this country: we are a constipated nation when it comes to social programs.

There is the very real ideological constipation against positive social reforms dating back to the days of FDR and further still. Then there is the constipation specific to this issue of the monopolistic health insurance companies spreading public disinformation like the stuff is on sale. This, and other factors like Sara "Death Panels" Palin and Glenn "Fearmonger-in-Chief" Beck, make this one of the most hostile environments one could possibly hope to create against pro-reform activities.

The entire experience feels like we pro-reformists have fallen flat on our face and bloodied our nose, which would be correct. But I remind everyone sharing with me in this feeling that we did just run head-first into a brick wall of highly funded anti-reformism.

We have made history in the US Congress in that we have finally cracked the brick wall against fixing a system that every informed person agrees desperately needs reform. To shatter this brick wall is a much larger task and the true importance of these recent national debates over health care coverage has been the value of flushing the wolves out into the open more than it was about the larger picture.

All The Latest Transfer Gossip

With the transfer window due to open this Friday the amount of 'potential deals' or 'rumours' flying around is unsurprisingly rife.

However with many clubs struggling in this current financial climate, it will be interesting to see how many actual purchases and sales go through.

The January window may turn into a damp squib - all talk and little action.
Personally I think their will be two or three big money transfers, but other than that the movement of players will be predomiminantly made up of loan deals

Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Manchester City, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Bordeaux, Wigan, Stoke, Real Madrid, Sunderland, Juventus, Liverpool, Real Zaragoza, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Lazio, Manchester United, Toulouse, Fulham, West Ham, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Athleico Madrid, Bolton, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield United and West Brom are all caught up in the transfer gossip as we speak.

Is your club involved?

Here is a round up:

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti will make a transfer window U-turn by offering a British record £45m for Bayern Munich's France winger Franck Ribery - People

Manchester City are on the brink of signing Inter Milan defender Ivan Cordoba, 33, who has fallen out with boss Jose Mourinho - Daily Mail

Fernando Torres is ready to quit Liverpool if they fail to qualify for the Champions League this season - News of the World

Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni, who has been linked with a move to both Chelsea and West Ham, has set his sights on a return to Serie A with Roma this winter, although a deal has yet to be concluded - Gazzetta dello Sport & Reuters

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is considering splashing out on a new striker in the January transfer window, with Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh top of his wanted list - Mail on Sunday

Or Wenger could launch a £12m January bid for Toulouse's French international striker Andre Pierre Gignac - News of the World

Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic and Newcastle United's Fabricio Coloccini are just two of the latest players to be linked to a move to Spanish giants, Real Madrid - Spanish daily AS

Craig Bellamy has rubbished claims he wants to quit Manchester City and denies he led a player rebellion in the wake of Mark Hughes' sacking - Daily Mirror

Newcastle officials are understood to have been in touch with Leeds to outline their interest in leading goalscorer Jermaine Beckford - Northern Echo

Juventus director of sport Alessio Secco has made Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini 'unsellable' amid interest from both Manchester United and Manchester City - Football Italia

Arsenal and Tottenham are ready to fight it out for Newcastle keeper Fraser Forster. Both clubs have sent scouts to check on the 6ft 6in stopper, who is currently on loan at Norwich - Sunday Mirror

Portsmouth goalkeeper David James admits he is 'flattered' by the interest of Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp and would be keen on a move to White Hart Lane to boost his England World Cup chances - Sunday Telegraph

Harry Redknapp has paved the way for Roman Pavlyuchenko's Tottenham exit and says he would not necessarily need a replacement if the Russian quit White Hart Lane in January - Daily Mirror

Birmingham are ready to launch an £8m raid for Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia - News of the World

Manchester United striker Frederico Macheda, 18, is being linked with a loan move to Real Zaragoza - News of the World

Liverpool are poised to mount a major effort to sign former Lazio striker Goran Pandev on a free transfer next month in a bid to boost their flagging season - People

Ambitious Stoke manager Tony Pulis could make a surprise three-pronged raid for Liverpool misfit Ryan Babel, Aston Villa's Emile Heskey and Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones - News of the World

Bolton boss Gary Megson is attempting to sign veteran Real Madrid midfielder Guti - Daily Mirror

Sunderland have launched an attempt to hijack right-back Danny Simpson’s move from Manchester United to Newcastle - Daily Star Sunday

Tottenham's Scotland full-back Alan Hutton is a January target for Stoke and Fulham - News of the World

And Hutton's fellow out-of-favour Tottenham team-mate David Bentley is also attracting interest from Spanish side Atletico Madrid - News of the World

West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo is planning a £3million swoop for Sheffield United star Jamie Ward when the transfer window opens next month - Sunday Mirror

The Failings of “Self-Help”

(Miss Pink Slip)

The truth of life lies in the middle, not upon the edges.

Many people as of late tell me things like: “stay positive” and “look on the bright side of life.” What I hear in these well-meaning words is: “stay deluded” and “ignore things you don’t like.”

Telling someone like myself to “stay positive” is much the same as telling me to “stay negative.”

The truth is most people saying such things have absorbed flawed and profit-oriented “self-help” notions that fulfill only the most basic and simplistic concepts while neglecting the raw and often cold truth of existence in the modern world.

Telling people that life rarely works out the way you want it to and that misery is a vital element of life as well as pain being instrumental in personal growth is hardly what people want to hear when they already know much of misery, loneliness and emotional pain.

Telling people, falsely, that listening to you will cure them of their insecurities and personal failings is exactly what people trying to break free of the doldrums of their daily lives want to be told.

My brand of “self-help” will likely never catch on because it doesn’t excuse you from taking responsibility for the world around you and where you fit into it.

The fact is, the people like myself who dissect and analyze everything before them cannot be effected by these flat platitudes and narrow definitions of living our lives.

These “sunny dispositions” touted by many are just a means of excusing that which is unjust and a method by which social tyranny is bound to spread under.

There is a strong desire in many to be “lifted up” by a “guru” who holds all the answers, and I realize these days that I am that “guru.” But this guru doesn’t care to wrap you up in fuzzy blankets of feel-good notions and instead seeks to destroy delusion while cultivating critical thinking.

This is not what those seeking “self-help” wanted to hear.

As my ex-girlfriend recently screamed at me over the phone: “I like it simple!”

She is right, in so far as that my personal ethic is not some quick little program to follow like a robot repeating a repetitive task or a dog barking on command.

People might have to exercise their brains if they wanted me to be their “guide on the journey of life.” One might have to make a decision entirely on their own judgment without preconceived patterns dictating their response.

In essence: you have three choices.

You can be negative, apathetic or positive.

I make no judgments as to which you choose, but I do ask people see that they made the decision in the first place.

What concerns me is that which is the greatest failing of mainstream self-help. That being your true, genuine and honest feelings and the nature of complete imperfection of self being not only ordinary but in fact more healthy than the denial found in purely optimistic stances.

This denial of self promoted by mainstream self-help is, in my opinion, destructive to a healthy psychology.

I say people need to be contented with eating stale bread if they want to be truly happy in the here and now. I say “manifesting your destiny” is a false notion that originates from people who know little or nothing of loss and dashed ambitions.

Some people live their whole lives without ever finding love or realizing even the most minor of their dreams. Perhaps you are one of those people. If so you would probably rather talk to me than those who accuse you of creating disappointment and failure by value of what a poor person you are in attitude and / or mentality.

Some listen to me speak and conclude that it is my sole mission to depress you into submission to my version of reality.

I would contest that it is more a matter of reality and truth themselves that are highly unpopular, more than it is something native to my psyche or message.

Statements like “love is never enough” and “God wants you to think for yourself” will never beat out statements like “love is all you need” and “just obey the Bible and then God is happy.”

Positive thinking is no more than a tool to combat negative thinking and I would never advocate against positive thinking itself. What I advocate against is delusional thinking and herein lies the gray area that quickly destroys my popular appeal and makes for the divide between myself and most every other person who ever spoke of these matters in public.

Also, some of my ideals are highly unpopular in “New Age” thinking.

Shame, guilt and regret are vital to good personal ethics and if we live in a situation bereft of these there is no consequence for our own ill behavior and the harm we do to others in the course of our lives.

The moment I heard the words “I don‘t have any regrets about the time we spent together” from my ex-girlfriend is the same moment I realized that we had grown so far apart in these years away from each other that the gap is completely unbridgeable.

--

Not all mainstream self-help holds fast to these destructive levels of personal delusion, it is important to point out.

One example is Dr. Wayne Dyer.

The concept of “excuses no more” is something I can stand behind fully.

This quote sums up what I like about Dr. Dyer:

“If you tell yourself it is going to impossible and extremely hard to do something then you are setting yourself up for failure and if you look at it from the perspective of it being easy and completely possible then even if you don‘t succeed you at least gave yourself the best chance of getting what you want.”

That is where positive thinking and attitudes have their real value. You can increase your chances of success by taking a optimistic outlook and may well destroy that same chance with negative thinking but it is still just a matter of chance and circumstance more than any amount of “manifested destiny” at play.

Furthermore, I am a person that believes that more is gained by failure than by success in almost every personal situation. Or rather that is to say that more is learned by failing than is learned by succeeding.

What we must fight against is living static and / or delusional lives. Promoting this false notion that we all can have what we want or that we will all find fulfillment in this life will only lead a certain number of people to a dejected dead end that no “self-help guru“ can properly address.

Whereas my unpopular and mainly rejected ideas leave no one behind or out in the cold anymore than I myself am.

I guess I have to write a book about this…

Love Makes Fools Of Us All

(Savage Chickens)

I have no desire to share every twist and turn of my love life on the web, but I see some sense it keeping things in broad generalities.

The long and short of it is within my headline: love makes fools of us all.

I am tired of being the only man alive who admits to his feelings.

I am tired of being surrounded by people more interested in getting their rocks off than they are in anything else.

I am tired of the obvious lies from other men in terms of their emotional investment and complete servitude to their lover.

I have come to the conclusion that is a good thing to be alone, and a good thing for me to not have a lover. These days of endless pain and broken dreams have taught me well.

Most of the time I just keep quiet on this topic. The feelings and thoughts I have don’t give anyone the warm and fuzzy feelings they like to associate with love.

Like so much of what I have to say, the fact remains that nobody wants to hear it because it didn’t give them exactly what they expected and wanted to find.

Having some know-it-all tell you that love can destroy you, as quickly as it can raise you up, is not what someone swimming in the sea of romantic bliss wants to hear.

Listening to someone calling love a random and uncontrollable force of nature when you are convinced that your feelings are entirely centered around this person is just no fun at all.

Add atop that I have strong negative feelings toward those who engage in public displays of affection (something I am normally found of) and hold a general level of resentment toward all those who have found and, by some rare miracle, held on to love … we begin to see why I am better off to just shut up.

I find the more I could give a damn about women and romance, the more appealing I am to others.

I think this is screwy psychology on the part of women. When I enter that state I truly could give a damn about you (whoever you are) and this is exactly what makes women approach me in the first place. It is truly no surprise to me there is so much divorce and domestic violence; such matters are a large part of the problem.

Women (too many of them anyway) reward men for being dispassionate husks that sit aloof from the world in a tower of pride.

I know that state well, and I must say it not something to be desired in the least.

But it is my experience that the sooner I learn to once again think of all women as nothing but mere distractions, the sooner I will stop spending my nights alone and wanting.

Liverpool Looking To Get Campaign Back On Track Versus Wolves - Betting Tips with Betfred

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has admitted his side must look to win all their remaining Premier League games in order to finish in the top four.

The Anfield club are currently in eighth place in the Premier League, having only won eight of their 18 games this season, and face a resurgent Wolves side on Boxing Day, who have taken nine out of a possible twelve points in their last four fixtures.

Wolves are an outside bet at Premier League odds of 15/2 with Betfred, but 'could be' worth a small wager on the basis of a very inconsistent Red's team this term, who have only been victorious in five of their nine games at Anfield.

Liverpool are eight points adrift of Aston Villa in fourth place and Brazilian midfielder Lucas thinks the side's target must now be to win "almost every game" in order to get back into the Champions League next season.

"Wolves have quality. We have to respect them and try to show our own quality and play well for the fans," said Lucas.

"All games are tough in the Premier League, so we have to prepare well, work hard and have confidence. We have quality and if we can play well we can beat anyone."

Odds with Betfred of 5/1 for a 2-0 victory for Liverpool could be a good offering as the Reds will be looking to recover quickly from their 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth last weekend.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy could also make big changes to his side, like he did against Manchester United earlier in the month, which would also make 8/1 for there to be over 2.5 goals in the tie a good football bet.


My Tip Of The Weekend:
Back over 2.5 goals @ 8/1 in the Liverpool versus Wolves fixture on Boxing Day - kick-off 5.30pm GMT.

By Charlotte Cook
(Guest writer from Betfred on behalf of Beer Footy and Birds!)

MERRY XMAS from Beer Footy & Birds!

PERMANENT by Riot Productions

PERMANENT @ Infusion
2nd Jan 2010

A union of steel and flesh, the art of ink and skin – PERMANENT will dispel the taboos surrounding the world of counter-culture in Singapore.

Join us for a New Year party like you’ve never seen before at the aptly-named Infusion, and prepare to experience a mesmerising night of art where the skin becomes the canvas. With live tattooing and piercing exhibitions and sessions from four of the foremost tattoo studios in Singapore, as well as professional skin airbrushing, Henna painting, and a mind-blowing graffiti showcase, we promise an evening that will be permanently seared into your mind.

Location: 16A Dempsey Road, Infusion
Doors Open: 9.30pm
Door Tickets: $18
Presale Tickets: $16
Each ticket entitles to 1 free drink and 1 airbrush tattoo
For Presale Tickets please contact Kenneth Sim @ 9691 0569

Participating Tattoo/Art Studios:
1) Immortal Tattoos
2) Primitive Art Piercing & Tattoo Studio
3) Visual Orgasm
4) Art Inflict
5) Attic Gothic Lolita Punk
6) Path (Body Art & Special Effects)

Event is gonna be a tattoo exhibition/new year party.
Activities going on are the following:
1) Live Tattooing from all studios
2) Live Piercing (Walk-in)
3) Airbrush
4) Henna
5) Body painting showcase
6) Body Piercing showcase
7) Graffiti showcase
8) Live spinning by DJ Nel of Riot Productions

*send your questions to info@riot.sg

`-` beautiful actress richa gangopadhayay `-`

Eyeris' 2009 Movie Lists: Pixar Soaring Up, And Joe Rising Down

TOP TEN FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2009

1. Up (Gorgeous, sweet, funny and best opening sequence minutes ever)
2. (500) Days of Summer (The only rom-com I've actually really LIKED)
   
3. Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino. The Jew Hunter. Diane Kruger. Nuff said)
   
4. Princess And The Frog (The return of Disney and classic 2D animation)
   
5. Star Trek (A new Star Trek movie that puts the new Star Wars movies to shame)
   
6. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr. rocks!)
   
7. Coraline (Never came here, but great watch nonetheless)
   
8. Watchmen (A bit too faithful and stylo at times, but still awesome)
   
9. District 9 (probably the biggest surprise of the year)
   
10. Public Enemies (Depp. Bale. Mann. Tommy Guns. 'nuff said)
    

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

THE "I LIKED IT, SO THERE!" LIST

1. Transformers: Revenge Of the Fallen (I liked it, SO THERE!)
   
2. This Is It (You didn't like it? Then BEAT IT!)
   
3. Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince (Better than the book. Which is good.)
   
4. Monsters vs. Aliens (I quite liked the concept, SO THERE!)
   
5. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Cheesy. More of a light snack than a heavy meal)

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

THE "OK BUT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER" LIST

1. 9 (Nice concept and execution, but not much of a story)
2. Avatar (Gorgeous, true, but really just Dances With Wolves with pretty colours and blue people)
3. 2012 (Nice effects, but 40 minutes too long)
4. Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (Wasn't TOO bad, but wasn't too good either)

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

OVER-HYPED DISAPPOINTMENTS

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Damn wishy-washy. A bloody waste of good characters)
   
2. Terminator Salvation (terminate that salivating director!)
   
3. Angels and Demons (Better hair, but nothing much else)
   
4. Fast & Furious (More splutter than vroom)
   
5. A Christmas Carol (Bah, HUMBUG)
   

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

OH GOD KILL ME NOW

1. New Moon (Most fun I had laughing AT a movie this year)
   
2. Dragonball Evolution (Go read the comic. Less aggravating)
   
3. Storm Warriors (Spent more time posing than fighting. Should be called Storm Posers instead.)
   
4. G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra (one dumb, loud actionmovie based on toys is good enough for me)
   

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

Wanted to Watch

1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Zombieland
4. Coraline in 3D
5. Where The Wild Things Are
   

Christmas Is Canceled: Dick Cheney Shoots Santa In The Face

Ken Kupchik has tickled my funny bone.

Air America really? section:

Mclean Police Department McLean, VA

Incident Report # 9005217 Report Entered: 12/17/2009 21:13:34 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Date/Time Reported Location Apt/Unit# 12/17/2009 Halliburton Hunting Campus n/a

Incident Type/Offense Date/Time Occurred First Degree Assault S53 12/17/2009 12:01:19

Reporting Officer Approving Officer \

Leahy, Ryan (467) Clymer, Harold (213) _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Persons

Role Name Sex Race Age DOB Phone Address Witness Blitzen Male Reindeer n/a n/a n/a North Pole _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Offenders

Status Name Sex Race Age DOB Phone Address Defendant Cheney, Richard M Cauc 68 1/30/1941 n/a McLean, VA _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Narrative

On Thursday December 17, 2009, Richard Cheney, of McLean, VA was placed under arrest at the Halliburton Hunting Area after being observed discharging a rifle directly at another individual, victim Kris Kringle (aka Santa Claus). The perp claims he was hunting for caged quail. These actions on behalf of Cheney served no legitimate purpose and caused harm to an unarmed citizen.

On the above time and date, I was on uniformed duty in an unmarked police cruiser assigned to the Administration Section, working from 7:00-3:00 AM. I overheard a broadcast for a possible shooting and due to my proximity, responded.

When I arrived, I observed a portly man in a red suit with a thick white beard laying on the ground holding the side of his face with his hands. He said, "oh, oh, oh." I observed Cheney standing in the distance holding what appeared to be a shotgun close to his body. I ordered him to drop the weapon and proceeded to place him in handcuffs for everyone's safety. During this time, I observed reindeer tied to a sled attempting to hurt Cheney as he sneered and made faces at them. For his own safety I placed Cheney in my cruiser.

After requesting ambulance service for the victim, I began questioning the reindeer as to what happened. Blitzen appeared to take the initiative in explaining the situation. He said that Claus had taken the reindeer out for a test run before the holidays, and while passing through the area doing a low flying maneuver, they heard gunshots, and the sleigh-driver (Claus) was hit. When asked if they heard any warnings before the shots, Rudolph said that he had been "lighting the slay tonight" and was clearly visible. He said that before the shots he heard Cheney clearly yell, "Hey that's a human, shoot him."

I attempted to question Cheney about the attack, but he refused to answer any questions about someone named "Valerie Plame," appearing confused and defiant. After a brief consultation with Sgt. Clymer, I transported Cheney to Redwood Police Station in a police cruiser where he was booked and processed by Off. C. Sheehan.

Festive Xmas XI of Former England International Players

• GK: Tim Flowers - Blackburn


• DEF: Ledley King - Tottenham
• DEF: Trevor Cherry - Leeds
• DEF: Barry Venison - Newcastle
• DEF: Terry Butcher - Ipswich

• MID: Harry Nutall - Bolton
• MID: Dennis Wise - Chelsea
• MID: Alfred Priest – Sheff Utd

• FWD: Albert Shepherd - Bolton
• FWD: John Cock – Chelsea
• FWD: George Holley - Sunderland

Champions League Last 16 Draw

Inter Milan v CHELSEA

Lyon v Real Madrid

AC Milan v MANCHESTER UNITED

Olympiakos v Bordeaux

FC Porto v ARSENAL

CSKA Moscow v Sevilla

Stuttgart v Barcelona

Bayern Munich v Fiorentina


The first-leg ties will be played on the 16th, 17th, 23rd or 24th February 2010.
The return games will be played on either the 9th, 10th, 16th or 17th March 2010.

*It had to be, didn't it? David Beckham will return to Old Trafford with AC Milan. Jose Mourinho goes back to Chelsea with Inter.

Terrific Stuff!

`-` sameera redddy :: maxim photoshoot `-`

It's Finally Convenient For Malaysians To Watch the Kings Live!

Ah, finally. After agonising over all the good acts going over to Singapore instead of coming here, we finally have some good news at last.

Yup, the Kings of Convenience are coming to KL!

The news broke on Twilight Actiongirl's Twitter, which said:

Kings of Convenience live in KL, March 21 @ Bentley Music Audiotorium, thanks to the good folks at Soundscape Records .

YAAAAY! Now it will be convenient for us to go watch them now! And At least I don't have to fork out a fortune to go watch them this time. Double YAAAAY!

Their newest album - Declaration of Dependence - is pretty good. A bit predictable at times, and a bit sleep inducing if you're really tired, but it's nice soothing acoustic fare to relax to.

There ARE some gems in there. The Boat Behind is an old favorite from their live shows, Mrs. Cold is nice, and so's 24/25. And interestingly enough, they have a song called Riot on An Empty Street, which is the title of their last album. Will they have a song called Declaration of Dependence in their next album then?

Oh, and unlike their last albums, Declaration of Dependence is actually available in local music stores. I got mine in Rock Corner, and I saw it in Music Valley as well.

PS. Tickets for Singapore's Mosaic Music Festival are also on sale now. So if you wana go catch Dinosaur Jr., 65daysofstatic, St. Vincent and The Go Team in action, you better go get your tickets NOW!

Hacked “Climategate” Emails Did Prove One Thing

(NCTimes.com Blogs)

I keep my eye on politics, and since the uploading of some illegally obtained data from Britain’s CRU the political right wing has lost it’s mind. Science-denial has gripped them and they intend to brow-beat on anyone who questions their faulty logic. This hacking incident being called “Climategate” by the anti-environmentalist right wingers has brought to light to discerning observers that these people are divorced from all logic and rational thought. That they would defend any notion that fit into their preconceived world view regardless of an insurmountable body of research that clearly amounts to scientific fact.

The fact that almost every person the right supports this flawed and debunked theory that these emails prove anything beyond a level of professional bias being enacted against skeptics of the CRU is absurd.

Britain and the U.S. have a high number of global warming deniers and in the aftermath of this hacking it is found that the hackers are likely members of such a group in Britain so it is much like the other propaganda crusades of the right.

There is clear evidence of a willful ignorance on behalf of these people locked in outright denial.

--



Sara Palin wrote on her Facebook page recently:

“this is doomsday scare tactics pushed by an environmental priesthood that makes the public feel like owning an SUV is a sin against the planet.”

I find it laughable that a woman who pushed scare tactics like “he [Obama] associates with terrorists” during the campaign suddenly thinks alarmism is so awful.

Her “environmental priesthood” is scientists around the world and not just environmentalists like myself. She is suggesting the that scientific community is invested in some larger scheme and it is completely manufactured on her part.

And this climate science is not designed to make “the public feel” anything. Science stands on it’s own, apart from this hyperbolic standard she has set up.



Al Gore responded to Palin’s comments:

GORE: Well, the scientific community has worked very intensively for 20 years within this international process, and they now say the evidence is unequivocal. A hundred and fifty years ago this year was the discovery that CO-2 traps heat. That is a -- a principle in physics. It's not a question of debate. It's like gravity; it exists.

What many environmentalists are loathe to point out is that like all recent science there is “wiggle room” around different aspects of the science in regards to causality, though most studies confirm the notion that man-made greenhouse gasses are the primary factor contributing to global climate change. The elements here that are simply not up for debate are exactly the elements the conservatives have grabbed on to and frankly at a certain point I have to just laugh.

--

Michael Oppenheimer, Director of the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Department of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School:

There is a mountain of scientific evidence pointing to human-caused climate change; all available to any skeptic. Colder than normal October in the US is not a climate trend, no matter how often it is repeated on uneducated blogs and by unintelligent cable news pundits. It remains true that Earth has warmed more than 1 degree (F) over the last century largely due to buildup of human-made greenhouse gasses. It remains the case that the projections of future climate change are every bit as discouraging as they were before the recent flap began.

Joseph Romn, physicist of the Center for American Progress:

Evidence of global warming is getting clearer, while opponents are redoubling their efforts at misinformation-disinformation campaigns.

============================================

UPDATE!

InformationIsBeautiful.net has an excellent online visualization of the real debate between climate skeptics and science at-large.

Nouriel Roubini the Macroeconomist Extraordinaire

(Time)

The opportunities for global growth on a sustained basis are quite positive. Right now the basic building block of global demand , the US consumer, is faltering; therefore there is a lack of aggregate demand relative to supply. The supply has been rising because China and emerging markets have been investing so much in new factories and new productive capacity. A lack of demand relative to excess supply--that’s what the global recession is.

You have to have a complete rebalancing of the global economy. The global imbalances are not sustainable anymore.

(From Dec. 2009 issue of GQ)

I have spoken before of how I believed there existed a very real danger of slipping into a depression economy or have the “double-dip” recession model enacted upon us. I believe the danger still exists but there are many signs pointed in the other direction as well.

Roubini speaks of an “L-shaped” model in terms of his predictions for American economic recovery, and I think he holds the most accurate take on economics available. The “double-dip” is the “W-shaped” model that I spoke of before and it looks like the “L” or perhaps the optimistic “elongated U” are the far more likely graph of US economic growth.

The media calls him “Dr Doom,” and I guess that makes me “Dr Doom Jr” because I am less optimistic that we will balance the global economy. But if there was ever any question as where I get my economics, I would have to cite Roubini.

Let us not forget that he predicted the housing market burst and the coming of the global economic recession. It is important to hear what he has to say at this stage and I find it strange how often his assessment mirrors my own:

Roubini’s Three Major Concerns about current US Economy

1. The banks that “still have bad assets weighing on them, remain unable and unwilling to lend.”

2. The “US households that are increasingly indebted and decreasingly employed.”

3. The corporations that are “improving balance sheets by cutting jobs and cutting costs other than increasing revenue.”

--

The big question here:

Why in the years and months before the economic crisis was it only “bubble bloggers,” Roubini and a handful of Democrats who warned of the coming housing market bubble bursting and the resulting recession from the burst?

There is no question that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke responded aptly to the situation and that the Congressional bailout measures were indeed necessary. What remains to be seen is if the same people who would so readily jump to rescue a sinking economy would have the foresight to see the coming of a “double-dip” recession or if they would warn of it if indeed they did. I believe many financial “experts” are people who only understand talking-up the market and have long since given up on objective assessments on economics.

No Shit, Sherlock... You Rock!!!

Sherlock Holmes.
Not a Review.
No shit, Sherlock, you rock!
Robert Downey Jr. can do no wrong now eh?
Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, now this.
Who needs Johnny Depp anymore eh?



Funnily enough,
Downey Jr's Holmes feels a lot like Dr. Gregory House.
Was he inspired by Hugh Laurie's House?
That would be funny.
Considering House is based on Sherlock Holmes.
And James Wilson is based on John Watson.



Ooooh Rachel McAdams,
Somehow she doesn't look as hot here.
Still hot, but not AS hot.
I thought women in that era used to show cleavage a lot?
This movie not much also.
Disappointing.



But anyway, this movie is FUN!
It's not the fuddy duddy stuffy Sherlock.
This Sherlock quite cool.
A bit eccentric and a bit of a klutz too.
And he can deduce the shoes off you!
Jude Law's not bad as Watson either.
They make a pretty good team.



Oh yeah, and this Homes fights too.
Apparently in the books he CAN fight too.
Just that we all think he's a fuddy duddy,
Who goes around wearing that strange hat and cape.
Here he does wear those stuffy clothes.
And neither does he say 'Elementary'.
(Actually he does say 'Elementary' in the books either...)



Surely this movie warrants a sequel?
It's fun, it's entertaining,
And Robert Downey Jr. is a blast.
And then there's that small matter of a certain arch-enemy.
So let's have a Sherlock Holmes 2, Guy.
It's only elementary, my dear Mr. Ritchie...

All The Latest Transfer Gossip

With the January transfer window opening in just over two weeks, transfer rumours are unsurprisingly ubiquitous.

Players at home and abroad are being linked with new clubs on a daily basis.

Clubs are on the lookout for reinforcements for several reasons - to ease an injury crisis, to bolster their squads in their chase for honours, or in their quest to avoid relegation, and in some cases they need to offload players to ease their current financial plight.

Barcelona, Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Wigan, Schalke, Tottenham, Stoke, Sunderland, Liverpool, AC Milan, West Ham, Aston Villa, Standard Leige, FC Twente, Everton, Man United, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Newcastle, Birmingham, Coventry and Nottingham Forest are all caught up in transfer gossip as we speak.

Is your Club involved?

Here is a round up:

Crystal Palace could be set to lose one of their biggest young stars with Barcelona ready to make a shock £3.5m move for Victor Moses in the New Year. Sunderland, Wigan and Tottenham are also keen on the 19-year-old striker - Daily Star

Stoke manager Tony Pulis is preparing to make a £4m offer for Newcastle United forward Andy Carroll - Daily Mirror

Rafa Benitez will try to exploit the uncertainty over West Ham's future by making a swoop for Scott Parker. Liverpool are ready with a £6million offer for the midfielder when the transfer window opens next month - The Sun

Chelsea are plotting a January swoop for West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green following a series of below-par performances from Petr Cech -Daily Express

Real Madrid have targeted Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho and offered striker Ruud van Nistelrooy in part exchange - Daily Mail

Chelsea have rejected Portsmouth's request for more time to pay the £750,000 still owed from Glen Johnson's transfer to Fratton Park - The Sun

Manchester United and Arsenal have been told to forget about signing Standard Liege's £15million-rated midfielder Steven Defour, 21, in January. But Paul Stefani, the player's agent hinted at a summer move and said: "Of course Steven would be interested in coming to England in the future" - The Sun

Manchester United face battle with former England boss Steve McClaren to sign AC Milan striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - Daily Mail

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has been given the green light to sign Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo on loan for the rest of the season - Daily Mirror

Everton are set to bid £7m for Schalke midfield ace Lewis Holtby, 19, who has been getting rave reviews in the Bundesliga - The Sun

Tottenham winger David Bentley wants to leave Spurs - Daily Mirror

Cash-strapped Coventry are set to sell star keeper Kieran Westwood next month to raise funds.
Both Everton and Aston Villa have been monitoring the £3million-rated star closely.
City’s top-scorer Leon Best, out of contract next summer, is also poised to be offloaded after rejecting new terms
Coventry boss Chris Coleman is keen to wheel and deal when the window opens to bring in fresh faces - Daily Mirror

Coventry manager Chris Coleman wants to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis McGuigan - The Sun

Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish made a surprise move for Giles Barnes last night - and will try to stop him joining Steve McClaren's Dutch side FC Twente - Daily Mirror.

`-` bollywoOd beaUties `-`