Fall Season!

Every September is exciting times for TV shows addicts, the fall season signals the return of shows from their breaks. As usual, the four shows I look forward too every week.
The delicious line-up
Tuesday - Prison Break (Season 4 Premiere)
Wednesday - Boston Legal (Season 5 Premiere)
Thursday - America's Next Top Model (Season 11 Premiere), Private Practice (Season 2 Premiere)
Friday - Grey's Anatomy (Season 5 Premiere)

Every day is a day to look forward too....after coming back from college. I shall reward myself by watching them every day for a day's hard work.
Btw, the dates for these returning series are

Prison Break - 1 September
America's Next Top Model - 3 September
Boston Legal - 22 September
Grey's Anatomy - 25 September
Private Practice - 1 October

So I guess things would be at full force by the end of the month. So which of the these shows I just can't wait to start watching. Next Top Model? hmm..predictable at times and after 7 seasons of watching this series, definitely not this. Boston is quite hilarious but not the kind of excitement you would virtually countdown the days for the next episode. Grey's Anatomy, this one would be one to look out for. Interest is still fresh for this show so I'm quite excited by it. Private Practice is relatively is relatively new, but the second season of shows usually gets more attention from viewers. We'll see how much better it does.So this just leaves one show left I am totally excited about. It had the worst season ever the last time. Prison Break ! Time for redemption and the first stride has already been taken even before the show has started.
Photos gives better descriptions. So here is it.

The Return of Sara !!! Looking hotter than ever.
Cast for Season 4!
How glad am I to see her in that picture. I had the worst feeling in the world when we first 'lost' her. Btw, I don't think I see Whistler in the picture...hmm..
Main points from last season's finale.
1)Michael , Whistler, Mahone and McGrady escaped from Sona.
2)Sucre is now trapped in Sona with Bagwell and Bellick.
3)T-Bag has the 'bird' book.
4)Whistler and Mahone seem to have known each other before.
5)Sophia has left James Whistler.
6)Michael found a file on "Jason Leef"

there's just so much to look forward to, with new characters and more information on what The Company wants, it has to be promising. Hopefully it lives up to expectations after a disastrous season 3.

~deyao~

The New Face of Country Music

It's been rather long since I had my last music album review. I wanted to do this review for some time now but I just haven't got real "spare time". University hours may be short but damn hell it takes a lot more of any free time. I don't think I could even manage 1 post per week for the moment, but hopefully things settle a little more and I can post more often.

That aside, this young and fabulous country singer has really surprised me. I knew her for awhile now but only recently I got to experience her entire album, which was a wonderful experience. When it comes to modern country today, I would say Carrie Underwood rules most of it. Carrie came out with her Some Hearts album and it sold like mad, not sure how many platinums she got for "Before He Cheats". But she has tremendously successful. But now comes a new artists and I feel she IS the new face of country. Already nominated for "Best New Artist" in the Grammys, she is no other than Taylor Swift. Her first album and it is already brilliant. There's just not enough words to describe this album. I'll start with Fantastic? For those who like country music , Taylor Swift would be at the top. Not at the at Trisha Yearwood, Leann Rimes or Faith Hill level yet. But believe me, her songs are unbelievable for a new artist turning 19 only at the end of 2008. There's a huge lag between this album's release and this review. But it's definitely worth it.

Let's go to the album, here's the cover.
It is a pretty nice cover. But pictures aren't audible so you really gotta check the album out.

Now to the songs. We all heard Teardrops on My Guitar. Some of us felt it was quite nice and some may have thought it was bad. I can't represent anyone's view but I liked it.

The album is like many of the new albums around, the young and ambitious ones.
Here's the list of the songs. The ones highlighted in ORANGE are the excellent ones. The others are rated 8/10. Check out the videos too.

1. Tim McGraw
   
2. Picture to Burn Video link
   
3. Teardrops on My Guitar
   
4. A Place in This World
5. Cold as You
   
6. The Outside
7. Tied Together with a Smile
8. Stay Beautiful
9. Should've Said No
   
10. Mary's Song
    
11. Our Song Video link
    

I have listened to it about 5-6 times on repeat to make sure it was how I thought it was. Our Song , Should've Said No has already made it big on the charts. Those songs are just wonderful to listen to. The lyrics are very creative too. It's really amazing for a new artist to start off at such a high level. I am totally impressed. Songs are very uplifting, vocals are powerful and everything in this album seems to just fit in perfectly. Anyone has to check this album out.
My rating would be 9.3/10.

I'll leave it here with some pictures.



Elegance.


The shinny guitar in the "Our Song" video.


Nice curls.


And lastly, a full shot.

~deyao~

Join Fantasy Premier League

As the BPL is about to start. Join Fantasy Premier League!


Players chosen will get points according to their performances each week. Test your knowledge on the game. Register before 16 August 6.30pm Malaysian Time which is the deadline for Gameweek 1 !
Join my league "Winner takes ALL". League code 76564-144969
Click on the banner to register!!
Post any queries you have.

~deyao~

Of Takeovers and Presidents

Football today is no longer just a sport, it's a money-making business, in fact a very huge one. We have come to see various takeovers in the BPL in the recent years,namely the big ones Chelsea, ManUtd and Liverpool. The scale of earnings in the football has risen so much recently until it has become very attractive investments for the super-rich. An author once said, you will never get rich working under an employer because you are only serving that particular person. The more people you serve the richer you get. True enough, the BPL is broadcast all around the world and it's biggest customer is obviously the most populated continent of them all, Asia. There's no official numbers how wide the audience is, but to simplify things, it's in terms of billions.


We've seen many takeovers in the BPL. Here's the list of them I compiled
Chelsea - Roman Abromovich
Man Utd - Malcolm Glazer and family
Liverpool - George Gillett and Tom Hicks
Aston Villa - Randy Lerner
Newcastle - Mike Ashley
Portsmouth - Alexandre Gaydamak
Fulham - Mohamed Al-Fayed
Man City - Thaksin Shinawatra
Sunderland - Consortium headed by Niall Quinn
West Ham - Eggert Magnusson

10 clubs are have been involved in takeovers and only 1 British ownership has been retained, Mike Ashley, owner of Newcastle United.

Next , the ones under-threat
Arsenal - Alisher Usmanov and Stanley Kroenke
Tottenham and Everton - Dubai Investment Group (DIG)
West Brom - Carson Yeung

So are takeovers good for the game? There's plenty of ways to look at this. Chelsea would be the strongest example for supporting the takeover argument. Russian money indeed has transformed Chelsea from an average to a world-class footballing club. This enabled Chelsea to break the stranglehold of the two-horse race previously. Competition is stiff as ever and obviously this improves the quality of the league. With takeovers at smaller clubs such as Portsmouth , Aston Villa and Man City, those teams are no longer that easy to beat. In fact, those are the teams trying to breakthrough the top 4 and they are mounting lots of pressure on the "Big 4" to be at the top of their game.

Financially, takeovers are extremely good for any club. Injections into clubs allow them not only to pay off outstanding debts but most importantly provide transfer kitties to buy bigger players.

Then why on earth are fans objecting them? It's quite simply because of emotional and ethical reasons. I'm not sure how other fans feel when their clubs are being takeover, but I am quite against any takeover at Arsenal. I do feel that letting foreigners own the club would mean repatriation of earnings to other countries. All the money generated by English clubs eventually does not stay in England and in the long term the BPL is technically a foreign-owned league. That's one part of the argument. I thank owners of the club that do not play any role in the clubs decision-making. This is one of the biggest fears when a takeover occurs. We saw Freddy Shepperd, once chairman at Newcastle signing Patrick Kluivert. I am very sure it wasn't Sam's proposal. We also saw Mr. Abramovich making the decision to bring in Andriv Shevchenko,and that too was definitely not a manager's(Jose) signing. This sort of interference is very disturbing to clubs and it is very frustrating for managers having their roles taken from them. That is what I fear most. If an owner buys a club and leaves the management to do their job,then this could be accepted.

President's control

Now comes the other issue. The huge involvement of president's of clubs. Especially Laporta of Barcelona, Calderon of Real Madrid and Milan's Galliani. I am not sure whether this has been practice for years where presidents exert a lot of control over a manager's role. For example, the pursuit of C.Ronaldo by Real Madrid was done by Calderon all the way, not Bernd Schuster which knows what the team needs and want. That is one sign of corporate side of football using its powers. Is it how it should be , I think not. Another more recent example, Kaka's representatives met on Roman Abramovich's yacht to discuss a move. Kaka's agent's are fine, but shouldn't be Scolari be doing the negotiations instead of an outsider from operations, the owner himself. It just doesn't sound right.
Presidents unveiling new players at the press is still perfectly fine. Corporate executives such as David Gill of Man Utd , Peter Kenyon of Chelsea and Ken Friar of Arsenal who work closely with managers when dealing with transfers are doing it the right way. But for those having little discussions with managers are going make some big mistakes for sure.

The 700mil pounds question would be whether Arsenal needs a takeover to help reduce the burden of paying off stadium debts and having extra transfer funds. I do think this season would be quite a decider whether the the club is able to cope with having to be selling-club (net income from transfers). David Dein is very serious about a takeover, I do understand his view but there's just a lot more in a takeover. Comments and views are welcomed.

~deyao~

The Q & A

Another addition to my football columns. This one is called Q & A . Having done with transfer talk previously , I hope I could do one better. This column is about me doing both the interviewer and pundit's jobs. I'll think about the issues concerning football today and I'll respond to it in a way someone else is asking me a question. I'm a 2 in 1! haha. let's see how I do.

The interviewer is someone neutral with questions about issues in football.
The pundit is an Arsenal fan


I : Arsenal has completed the signing of Samir Nasri , do you think he was brought in to replace Hleb?

P :According to reports, Hleb has planned his exit since before the season ended. From meeting officials who claim they were looking for "ice -cream"and saying London is too noisy. It's totally ridiculous. I am very sure he is Barca bound. I actually do think he was brought in for Hleb. He can play centre or the right wing.

I: Are you excited by the prospects he would be able to bring to the club?

P: Of course I am. I've seen a couple videos of him. He seems quite good on the ball, he is quick and has an eye for goal too. But as always, first seasons for players abroad are always the toughest, so I am not really expecting him to do anything extraordinary this season. But I really hope he contributes more goals from the midfield.

I: Can I have your take on the Adebayor saga?

P: I am actually quite disappointed on how this has took place. I never thought it could come from a player like him. Money does play a big part today. We have seen Ashley Cole and then Flamini leave for the money although they deny it. We all know the truth. Now we have Ade doing the same, and it's very disappointing he may leave after his best season in an Arsenal shirt.Reading the comments, you know it's all about the money. 60k a week is all Arsenal can offer, and some reports even suggested he wants a pay like Thierry before. Thierry's salary was a very unique case, he may be the best player Arsenal had and they were trying to show their appreciation for his pledging to stay at the club. At least it actually did last for a season. I do hope he stays but it seems more unlikely by the day. We'll just have to wait.

I: Speaking of money, Arsenal's wage structure is one of the lowest among the top clubs, is this a problem for keeping their biggest players?

P: Like Winterburn said the other day, Arsenal were never a top paying club. Thierry's 120k a week was a special case and a few years back Sol Campbell had a 100k a week due to his Bossman(free) transfer. Currently William Gallas is a top earner at 80k a week and the rest would be ranging from 30 k onwards. Arsenal definitely can't compete with the wage structures with Manchester United and Chelsea because both teams has got external funding and they lack the commitment of a new stadium which makes a tremendous difference. The players are by all means still very well paid, but you just can't compare with the other teams. It was never a huge problem as it was a few years ago. Abramovich has to take some of the blame, he pushed wage structures off the roof to record levels when he took over. Paying amounts never seen in football. Crespo's value is 1mil a game, Sheva's value is close to 2mil a goal and many others who were just tempted for the cash. Drogba did admit months ago he was tempted by Russian money and he felt embarrassed. Hence, it is a problem these days for clubs going through the traditional way of growing on their own without external funds.

I: There has been a plan by Michel Platini to propose the 6+5 rule . There's obviously plenty of objection by the clubs. But do you think this will help national teams?

P: Firstly, I think it would take a lot of convincing to get the representatives to approve this rule. There's already a rule of a minimum of 4 homegrown players at every club and there's been talk of raising this figure every year. This rule I feel is sufficient at the moment. Obviously homegrown players may not necessarily have the same nationality as the club. For example, Fabregas is a homegrown Arsenal player. The serious objections would be coming from people who feel that the move would be discriminating because of clubs needing to favour local players. It would be one of the biggest barriers to this proposal as it would be again EU laws. I don't think this rule would have much direct impact on the national team. If the rule comes through, we could see top teams forced to field at least 5 English players on the starting line up. But the worst thing is there would be more talented players which are left on the bench or the stands because of this rule . I don't think it is a solution to improving national teams.

I : Sepp Blatter had comments that players are being slaves today. How ridiculous is that?

P: There's definitely no place for this in football. The term slavery refers to people who work for nothing and it is such a sensitive word that should not be even mentioned. I wonder whether he has a dictionary. Players today are paid a fortune today not just because they are attract a global audience, their lifespan as a footballer is relatively short. But in no way this could relate to players being slaves for a club. The Club owns the player and has a huge say at what the player does and that is exactly what should happen, not the player doing what he wants.

I: Jose Mourinho has taken his first job after Chelsea. What things can we expect by the so called "Special One"?

P : I would say I have huge respect for what he has done at Chelsea. Virtually out of nowhere ending the dominance of a two-horse race in the league. He will deliver trophies at the San Siro but when it comes to the ultimate prize (CL), it is a different opinion. I have always analyzed that there are at least 10 teams capable of winning the competition, which means the odds are always stacked. On many occasions the team with Lady Luck on their side are the ones who get through. He will achieve great things in Inter. He has a good team and he is capable of building a very strong team. My dream job for him is manager of the England national team though. 42 years since the last World Cup victory would be a daunting but perfect task for a person like him.

I : There's been quite a few players brought in Premier League clubs this summer, which are the particular few that you are looking forward to?

P:There's quite a few I am really looking forward to see. Particularly Dos Santos of Spurs from Barcelona. I have seen him play for Barca and he is really a very talented player. I never expected Barca to sell him. Is he going to do something big at Spurs? Maybe not at the moment.Before I forget, there's also Luka Modric who also arrived at White Hart Lane. He seemed to be a very creative playmaker for Croatia. He was targeted by Arsene before last season. I do think he is gonna make a big impact. Jo from Man City is also another acquisition I am looking at. He has been linked City for such a long time and after going through many weeks of negotiation and a 18mil price tag, he must be something special. The others are Deco and Bosingwa from Chelsea. They have proven they can play good football abroad, but are they able to adapt in the BPL. It's a very exciting prospect for all fans.

I : Let's move to the Arsenal questions since you are a big fan. What kind of signings do you expect Arsenal to make apart from the current ones?

P: I would like to see a center back because I losing patience on Gallas by the day. I'll keep it simple, if Hleb leaves, sign a replacement and if Ade leaves, find another replacement. I think that should be how it works. This is one funny summer where there has been more links of signings at Arsenal than ever. There are just so many rumours out there.

I : Any particular player linked you would be interested in?

P: Well, there has been talk about Arshavin, Bischoff , Aguerro and some others. Some are plain rumours. A holding midfielder required and Amaury Bischoff has come out and said he would join the club. I don't know much about him or the situation, but if the manager think it suits the team, I'll have no doubts. There has been talks of bids from English clubs for Arshavin and Aguerro. But honestly , these two players are too expensive for Arsenal to compete for.

I: Arsenal has been playing great football over the last few seasons but are always coming up empty-handed. Who are the players that need to step up?

P: Thats a very good question actually. There are quite some players who have underperformed. Van Persie and Rosicky are very influential players for the team but injuries are constantly getting them out of the game. Is this the season they "finally" excel? I hope so. Gallas makes some huge mistakes at times, he has to step up. I am very disappointed by Eboue's contribution last season, and this could be his last straw at the club. Walcott is a name that definitely needs a huge mention because it's about time he delivers his first big season. Bendtner too needs a huge improvement in his game.

I: And lastly,prediction for Chelsea against the Malaysian National Team?

P: Haha. Thank god it's not a competitive match. 7-1 to Chelsea.


~deyao~

Super Spin-Off

Yup, I am talking about the new series Private Practice. A spin-off from hit series Grey's Anatomy, and of course having the same creator Shonda Rimes. The main reason people would definitely tune in would be because of the transition of Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh).

Grey's Anatomy viewers would know a thing or two about the series before it started because of a cross-over of this series in the last few parts of Season 3. The introduction of Addison in Grey's really shocked the entire audience and I am sure everyone was praying for her not to interrupt "THE" couple. But the creator obviously knew what she was doing and we got to love her in the show.
And so.....

The huge decision did indeed change Grey's forever. But there's always a compensating factor, Private Practice is such a brilliant series.

The Transition
Her exit from Grey's was built up in such a way that we could have expected her leaving. The breakdown of her relationship with Derek,Mark and a bound to fail relationship with Alex was showing signs that her presence on the show was diminishing. I would also think that it was difficult having to focus on every of the main characters of the show since there are at least 10 . The part where she decides to visit her friend in LA to determine whether she could conceive and a "moment" with another doctor was the point where viewers were given a huge hint of the outcome.

The New Life In Santa Monica
The place Addison works at, Oceanside Wellness Center, is not exactly a hospital, it's more like a place with private clinics. Hence, you won't really get the sort of hospital environment where there's a lot of dealing with trauma and emergencies. The change for Addison was difficult. There were no hospital "staff" or "nurses" , but only 1 person to assists the entire practice. It was no longer the hectic lifestyle compared to Seattle Grace.

Season 1 has 9 episodes , so it's was pretty quick.

The cast.


Let's get to the people.

Dr. Addison Montgomery. She is obviously the main character of the show. She loves the proclaim her qualifications. "I am a double board certified world-class neo-natal surgeon. One of the best in the world with a specialty in genetics and DNA". She does repeat it quite a few times. She does some really hilarious things in the show, sometimes I can't believe how funny she really could be. Her moment with Pete previously resumes on this series.

Dr. Naomi Bennett. She is a fertility and hormone specialist and she owns the majority of the practice. She is divorced with her Sam who also works in the same practice, having a child. She was best friends with Addison since med school and she was the one that persuaded Addison to join the practice. Episodes in the show continue to show whether she and Sam could ever reconcile.

Dr. Sam Bennett. He is an internal medicine specialist. As stated, he is divorced with Naomi, having a child Maya. He is also an author in the show, writing the book Body Language: The Mind-Body Connection. The book is a success and patients usually refer to him as Dr. Feel Good. Overall, he is a really good guy in the show. He lives a few feet away from Addison .


Dr. Pete Wilder. He is an alternative medicine specialist. He did a few years of traditional medicine in China. Thus, he does the acupunctures, herbal medicines and all sorts of therapy. His character is one of the unique ones, not the totally outspoken type. But the fact is, he is being too big of a magnet to Addison. He has a painful story about his wife who has passed on a few years ago. The entire story about it is not really clear. We'll have to wait. When you see him and Addison together , there's bound to be drama.


Dr. Cooper Freedman. He plays the role of a pediatrician. In the very beginning, he was known to be 'dating' people over the internet, and occasionally get screwed over. Played by Paul Adelstein, previously in Prison Break. It's hard to accept that he is actually a doctor, compared to his role as a killer for the government in Prison Break. There's a lot between him and Violet.


Dr. Violet Turner. She is a psychiatrist. It is not exactly the best job in the show. But there are some patients with unthinkable problems that come to her. Like any other psychiatrist, she is very patient and tries to talk things over.She is very good at what she does. She did ask Cooper for a very weird favour.

William "Dell" Parker. He is the receptionist and he helps out with minor medical procedures. He is technically a "nurse" because of his degree, so he does some tests for patients. And yes, he is the only one that the whole practice has got. He was a the "hot guy"that goes surfing in the Grey's Anatomy cross-overs but apparently there's not much of that in this season.

Charlotte King. She is the Chief of Staff at the St.Ambrose hospital. It is the hospital that all emergencies from the practice are directed to. Many of them don't really like her because of conflicts in decision making by the doctors at the practice and her hospital policies. She normally is seen at the hospital and occasionally stops by the practice to bring medical records. She too does internet dating. Guess who she meets? Haha......

Thats for the characters. Now for the bottom line. The show starts off a little slow but it does pick up very quickly. Relationships in the show keeps viewers tuned in. Very well structured show. It's standard may not be as high as Grey's but it is darn good. Rated at 8.5/10. Definitely a must-watch for all. It surely keeps you back for more.

~deyao~

Bubbling Talent

I recently realised I've been really into new artists, first it was Sara Bareilles, then it was "the" craze Marie Digby , now it's Colbie Caillat and Taylor Swift. Only girls? kinda realized that too... There's definitely plenty of male singers coming through, but I probably I haven't got any on my list. So after a week of Colbie Caillat's Coco album, I am again thoroughly impressed. Yea as we know, we've heard Bubbly too many times on any radio station, and people especially me are kinda sick of it. Then there's Realize now playing on the waves which is doing quite well.

As you may know, Colbie, like Marie did get a lot of attention and fans by using the power of the internet. Colbie did it through her MySpace like Marie used YouTube. She has taken off since with her album and she is going on tour like every emerging artist. She is no 'One-hit Wonder' for sure, her album is just wonderful. Previously, all I think when I see her was she is that boring singer who sang the sleepy Bubbly song. How wrong am I? I was off the mark by quite some bit. She is blessed with beautiful vocals and she does instruments too. Writing her own songs as well? That has to catch my attention.



Nice album cover too!

Now to the songs. Most of the songs are the slower types except a few which a quite uplifting. Overall , every song in the album is very distinct and and has a meaning of its own. Many of the songs are quite relatable. When you listen to the song Bubbly, you get the feeling of relaxing . Thats how the songs in this album are, more soothing ones. There's not really much powerful emotions taking over any of her songs, but there are a few which are rather sad songs.

Recommendations- Love to say all, but let's be fair.

1)Oxygen
2)One Fine Wire
3)Feelings Show (fav) Watch It
4)Midnight Bottle
5)Battle
6)Tailor Made

Btw, she also has duet with Jason Mraz, Lucky. It's not bad as well. Jason is one of the most talented performers I've seen , I'll try to get his album. Coco is rated at 8.5/10. I haven't known much about her yet, so the information is a little light. Maybe in the future when I do read more about her. I am quite late on Colbie, she's been out for almost a year and even made it to Malaysia. A little late for me but hopefully there's more to come. Claps for the bubbly singer !!



Pictures!



Another picture.

Private Practice is on its way ! I am again a little late, but at least I am ahead of Malaysian TV.

~deyao~

Another Original

I haven't figured out what the blog for days now. And randomly I accidentally bumped into more Marie Digby on YouTube, you know what happens when people get too bored , they look for just about anything to pass time. And thats what happened. I was looking for this song I heard for awhile but I never knew the title. And now I finally got it, it's another original from Marie herself and it must be a newer song as it is not part of her Unfold album. Unfold was actually completed way back in 2006 and I suppose the between then and now she has came up with new ones.

This one's called Dear Friend. Mouse over to load it on the mini SnapShots window(you can always zoom in) or click on the link. This one was recorded live. This one is rated 8/10.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IkO4_VsrPo

This is another version she did in the studio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00YlAUuzzTc

She also has another song which I think is fabulous. Lucky Americans get to watch her perform this song during her tour around the country. It's called My Greatest Mistake . It's also another original, I wonder whether it's going to be in her next album. I'll give it 8.5/10.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nus12OhcfIE

Btw, she would be releasing a Japanese edition of her album Unfold , and the good news is she would be releasing a full Japanese song called 'Korewa' . If you didn't know, Marie speaks the language fluently being a half-Japanese. I'll definitely be posting it when I get it.

And lastly , I leave it with some shots from her rather recent event "Alice Summerthing" with Lifehouse , Last Goodnight and a few other artist. Lucky Americans again...........


Marie !


Great shot!


Jason Wade from Lifehouse


Bryce Soderberg also from Lifehouse


Kurtis John of The Last Goodnight(Pictures of You)

You don't normally see artists do this, but who can blame Marie, she is a big music fan and she is human anyway. It was said she went close to get pictures of Lifehouse. Who wouldn't?


Credits to the photographer from Flickr.

Been trying with Germany's Next Top Model, but the language barrier is very quite significant and reading subtitles and trying to watch at the same time is hard! But I'll be having a review on Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice in a week, hopefully.

~deyao~