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We almost won it 6 times in Athens

23/05/2007

Athens

The stage was set for an epic battle between 2 teams. My beloved Liverpool, against the Italians in the form of AC Milan.

I had already prepared for this day by taking the morning off from work the next day. I was prepared to get up in the morning to watch this match, planning not to shout too loudly in case I woke my parents like the last CL final.

Alas, how the best laid plans can still go wrong.

At 10 plus, I received an MSN message from a friend asking me to go to Hard Rock Cafe to watch the match with, well other Liverpool fans. It took a bit of persuasion, but at 12.30 am, I found myself outside Hard Rock Cafe, waiting in line with a bunch of other Liverpool fans, all decked in the colors of Liverpool.

When the doors finally opened to admit a red tidal wave, the place was filled to standing room only in an instant. Such was the excitement in place.

I had never been able to sing a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone, so imagine my delight when a great round was belted out at the start of the match. Everyone raising their fist and singing their hearts out. It was a great atmosphere. Everyone was excited.

The match started and Liverpool were playing well. We were pressing them all over the pitch, forcing them to make errors, but alas, things were not to be as Pipo Inzaghi managed to deflect a free kick in.

We were visibly disappointed during the interval, but were still quietly optimistic. We had come back from 3-0 down. What's 1-0?

Alas, the best laid plans do still fall to pieces.

Try as the Redmen might, but we could not get the luck that we had needed. Lady luck had turned her back after Istanbul 2005.

But we were proud and we stood tall and we showed grace and dignity in defeat. Another rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone was belted out with gusto.

How apt the name of the song. Win or lose, you Redmen will never walk alone.

Lagi Best

Rosenior out after '10 minutes'



Leroy Rosenior has broken the record for English football's shortest managerial reign.

BBC Five Live understands Rosenior lost his job at Torquay just 10 minutes after being introduced as the Devon club's new manager on Thursday.

Chairman Mike Bateson called him to say he had just sold the club to a group led by Colin Lee, who then reinstated himself as director of football.

Lee had only been made redundant last Monday.

Rosenior, 43, was given the head coach position at Plainmoor when Keith Curle's short-term contract expired.

Bateson told Rosenior that he did not know Lee's bid for the club was imminent when he appointed him.

It would have been the former Brentford boss's second stint in charge at Torquay.

The previous shortest tenure in charge in English football was Dave Bassett's four-day reign at Crystal Palace in 1984.

From BBC Sports

This must go down as one of the biggest jokes in football. In charge for a whole 10 mins. Wow.

I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility

Interesting story taken from Things of Interest that talks about free will and how it doesn't exactly have to be religion that brings up such questions.

Mess enough with science and you can raise some really interesting questions about ethics and such. What happens when Man tries to play god?

*Whole story taken down at request of original author. Follow the link to read it. Sorry Sam!*

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!1

But it still doesn't prove anything!

Whuh?

Glass Illusion

The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Sometimes, you wonder where they come up with the names for movies? From some imaginary land where they just pluck letters out of a hat and then plop them all together?

Names like "THe wind that shakes the barley" comes to mind.

But making fun of such a name would probably do a disservice to the movie. (In case you're wondering, the name comes from a haunting song sung at a funeral)

This movie is set in the backdrop of the 1920s when Ireland is coming to grips with the brutal mastery enforced by the English Empire. When things go abit too far, and people die because of the iron hand that is gripping the Irish Republic, people turn sour and rebellious.

When a man is killed for speaking Irish and refusing to speak English as demanded by some English soldiers, a doctor is persuaded to join the Irish Republic Army (IRA) to fight for the freedom of the people.

Things are rosy for a while before things turn sour. Ireland is to be granted freedom, of a sort. They get to make their own policies, have their own army, but ultimately, they have to bow down to the English Empire once again and swear fealty to the King of England.

This rips the rebellion apart as father fights against son and brother against brother as different viewpoints threaten to tear the country apart. Atrocities are commited, brother orders the excecution of his own brother. Tears are shed.

This movie has terrific acting from the young and English cast and they got the Irish accent down pat, to the extent that I didn't understand about 30% of what they were saying, even though it was in English. I was really wishing for subtitles at a certain point in time.

The movie was also interesting to me as it brought to me attention a little part of history that I am not particularly familiar with and gives me a better insight to the aims of the IRA. I don't condone them, but I think I can see what they are trying to fight for.

Also it raises interesting questions. How much freedom is there? How much is it worth? Is an illusion of freedom better then no freedom? Is there such a thing as taking things slowly on the way to freedom?

Up yours RIAA/MPAA

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan)

This movie was one serious badass emo movie. It was also a movie I went to watch without having an idea of the plot or what it was about, since my first choice movie had already sold out.

Summer Palace is billed as "the most controversial movie from China" and I can see why. Set in the backdrop of the Tiananmen massacre, it liberally used images and footages taken from that period. You can see why the Chinese government basically banned Lou Ye (the director) from making movies for a 5 year period. All copies of this movies is supposed to be destroyed as well.

Also, it is very liberal in nature, showing the going on in the Beijing University at that period of time. And guess what young adolescent students do in their free time? They go at it like rabbits in heat.

But this movie isn't just about controversy, it's about the life of a young women, trying to find her way in life, to find someone for her. It traces a 2 1/2 hour torturous, winding and emo route of how she didn't get together with a guy. It showcases her thoughts, her feelings as she wrestles with her love life. She flits from one guy to another, always having sex, and yet always thinking of that one guy she doesn't want to be with.

This movie was interesting, and you could probably go on to analyze the relationships between all the characters for hours, but at the end of the day, when you see that she got married and yet still thinks about the guy and yet doesn't want to be with him, you can't help but feel sorry for her.

Daily anecdote

A Korean acquaintance asked me, "Are you local?"

That surprised me a bit, so I asked her, "So where do you think I'm from then?"

She thought about it for a while before replying, "Ok. You look local."

-_-