Viral Memes: CD Cover

This could probably be one of the most amazing memes out there… Try it out yourself!
I got this from someone’s multiply and I only got interested with it when it became a bit widespread within the sites that I visit.

Here’s the deal!

1 - Go to [link]
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations: [link]
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
If you want to do this again, you’ll hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.

3 - Go to flickr’s “explore the last seven days” [link]
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Go to [link]
The first ten links you end up in (minus the .com’s) are your 10 song titles.

–

My Band’s [Screen] Name: Broderick

Album Title: The Elimination of Nonessentials

Album Cover:

Credit: Deb Snelson
www.flickr.com/photos/debs_best/

Song Titles:
1. Noise Between Stations
2. Ritmoteca
3. Text Matters
4. Map Cruzin
5. E X P E R G O
6. Dead Metaphor
7. La Poste
8. Shibuya Hot
9. eLibs
10. Harry Potter Universe

To me, this looks a lot more like a jazz/neo-classical/with a blend of electronica album.
It’s awesome to find out that this is what it became; though I’d like to know how the last track would be played which consequentially is related to the name of the band, Broderick, that I found when I proceeded on the first link… The reference is through A fictional character named Broderick Bode who exists in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series.

I’m really behind with the HP Series - never read a single one - it’s just thanks to Wiki that I was able to find some connection between Broderick and Harry Potter. Anyway, this was really fascinating.

2 More Matches before the end of Euro Cup 2008

Well as the whole month is coming to a close, so will be the UEFA European Cup Championships with two more matches left: The Semifinal match between Russia and Spain and the Euro Cup Final to which Germany have booked their place at after ending the fairytale of the Turkish team with a score of 3-2 in the semis.

I’m just posting here to remind myself of what’s going to happen after this tournament for me…

1. Read novels, Granta & Reader’s Digest

2. Do some job hunting for the next 2 months

3. Save up money for this coming fall semester

4. Get in driving school

5. Do the road test to get the right rank in my driver’s license after finishing driving school

6. Do my responsibilities at home, at work and at school

7. Most importantly, get back on my Japanese, Spanish and Linguistics studies

Euro Cup 2008 - Round 3: Group C & D; Quarterfinal Matches

Round 3

June 17 Matches:

(Bern) Netherlands 2 - Romania 0
Huntelaar 52′ van Persie 87′
Caution: Chivu 78′

Romania was hoping for a win against the Dutch who have clinched their place in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately that was not the case and they lost by two goals giving the Netherlands all 9 points of the group stages. Nice sneaking ball to Huntelaar which he laid on the net 1-0. van Persie also made a great goal at 87′. Very disciplined match for the Dutch but this match puts Romania out of the tournament.

(Zürich) France 0 - Italy 2
Pirlo 26′ (pen) De Rossi 62′
Cautions: Evra 18′ Pirlo 44′ Chiellini 45+4′ Gattuso 54′
Boumsong 72′ Henry 85′ Sent off: Abidal 24′

When Italy and France got their nightmares from the Netherlands losing 3-0 and 4-1 respectively, France had it worse as they lost their key player Franck Ribery who was injured at the 10th minute. Much worse was Éric Abidal’s foul on Luca Toni in the penalty box which was clearly an attempt to prevent a goal opportunity that can be scored - this led to Abidal picking up a red card before the midpoint of the 1st half. Italy became stronger after Andrea Pirlo’s penalty kick was scored against Grégory Coupet as they are at a one man advantage. De Rossi came up with the second goal when his free kick was deflected by Thierry Henry. Though France had numerous chances, the Italian defense was just too much to handle. Italy will face Spain in the Quarterfinals.

Group C Standings: (W-L-D) [+/-] pts

1. Netherlands (3-0-0) [+8] 9pts
2. Italy (1-1-1) [-1] 4pts
3. Romania (0-2-1) [-2] 2pts
4. France (0-1-2) [-5] 1pt

June 18 Matches:

(Innsbruck) Russia 2 - Sweden 0
Pavlyuchenko 24′ Arshavin 50′
Cautions: Isaksson 10′ Elmander 49′ Semak 57′ Arshavin 65′ Kolodin 76′

Sweden and Russia were both the favourites to win this match but a draw would bring Sweden in the quarterfinals. Zlatan Ibrahimović, Sweden’s key player, played all throughout the 90 minutes of the match contrary to his two other matches where he left at the 2nd half due to his bothering knee injury. Unfortunately, the Swedes were faced by a young, energetic and quick Russian side which led to two very important goals by Roman Pavlyuchenko who scored the only goal of their match against Greece and Andrei Arshavin who was playing for the very first time in the squad after serving a two-match ban which he picked up on the preliminary stages of this tournament. It’s a very nice match for the Russians to savour as they move on to the quarterfinals led by their coach Guus Hiddink who might have to support his team over his nation of origin (The Netherlands) whom the Russians are going to play in the Quarterfinals.

(Salzburg) Greece 1 - Spain 2
Charisteas 42′ de la Red 61′ Güiza 88′
Cautions: Karagounis 34′ Güiza 41′ Arbeola 45′ Basinas 72′ Vyntra 90+1′

Greece at least had a goal in the tournament with Angelos Charisteas. Unfortunately, 4 years after their Euro Cup triumph, the defending champions Greece ended up with a winless campaign in this year’s tournament facing losses against Sweden, Russia and now Spain, and registering only one goal.

Spain on the other hand has clinched their place in the quarterfinals and they have achieved scoring 8 goals second to the Netherlands’ 9 goals in the tournament so far (4-1 vs. Russia, 2-1 vs. Sweden, 2-1 vs. Greece). The “La Furia Rojas” will face Italy first in the knock out stages.

Group D Standings: (W-L-D) [+/-] pts

1. Spain (3-0-0) [+5] 9pts
2. Russia (2-1-0) [0] 6pts
3. Sweden (1-2-0) [-1] 3pts
4. Greece (0-3-0) [-4] 0pts

Legend: Goals Sent-off Advances to the Quarter Finals

Well, I’m gonna miss the 8 countries who have fought hard yet weren’t able to move on. Co-hosts Switzerland - with Alexander Frei who was injured ending his campaign was uplifted by Hakan Yakin who made 3 goals and a win for them later on - wasn’t enough for them to move on but enough to make the co-hosts leave the tournament with a smile. Petr Čech, one of the best goalkeepers, together with the Czech Republic sadly had to leave early after losing amazingly from Turkey. Co-hosts Austria was strong yet unable to find a win. Poland with Artur Boruc’s amazing goalkeeping skills weren’t good enough for chances that can make the Poles move through the quarterfinals in their campaign. Romania with Mutu and Chivu only had to win against the Dutch to move on and so were Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery and the stars of the French team. And today, the Swedish team had to face elimination from the energy-driven Russian team while Greece, the defending champions, had to go home without winning any match; But I sure hope that they can still prove to be a strong team in their campaign for the 2010 World Cup.

A couple of bad news for some teams coming in the quarterfinals. Turkey’s goalkeeper Volkan Demirel will be serving a 2-match ban for his red card and for sitting on the bench after receiving his booking. Turkey will also miss Mehmet Aurelio after he picked up two yellow cards before the team moved on from the group stages - well a lot of important Turkey players have a yellow card which meant that they must play disciplined football on their match against Croatia. Germany has a lot of injuries bothering them for their next match against Portugal. Joachim Löw is also suspended for one match after the incident between him, Austrian Coach Josef Hickersberger and an official on the sidelines made the referee send them off from the dugout and watch the rest of the match in the stands. Italy will miss Andrea Pirlo and Genaro Gattuso on their quarterfinal match against Spain who had a great performance in the group stages. There may be others that I don’t know about but these are the significant ones which might affect the next four matches.

QUARTER FINAL MATCHES:

The Netherlands vs. Russia
(Basel, Switzerland June 21, 2008)

Spain vs. Italy
(Vienna, Austria June 22, 2008)

FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifier - Asian Zone: Japan vs. Oman

Japan 3 vs. Oman 0 (FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifier Asian Zone)

Nakazawa, Okubo and Nakamura scored all the goals in the competition. Nakazawa is still hot in the set piece situations by heading the ball from the corner kick; Okubo did a great job answering Tulio Tanaka’s pass with a smart goal. Nakamura took advantage of Oman’s defense by converting a cross into a sharp low kick. Naohiro Takahara didn’t play that match.

Japan continues to play out their accurate passing and amazing tactical attacks and defenses. Yuji Nakazawa definitely is the man in defense along with goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki. Shunsuke Nakamura delivers great crosses and one of them led to a goal by Okubo set up by Tulio Tanaka.

Oman on the other hand didn’t do that bad but their defense was taken advantage of too much which gives Japan too much chances in return.

After 3 matches - 2 wins against Thailand and Oman and 1 loss against Bahrain - Japan’s performance is convincing enough for them to qualify to the next stage. Bahrain seemed to be the only team to be reckoned with.

It’s nice to watch Asian football once again. This is the first one since the Asian Cup 2007 which took place last summer - Iraq was the champions of that competition beating favourites Saudi Arabia. But the team I really saw play crazy matches was Japan who went out of the tournament with memorable matches against the UAE, Qatar, Vietnam, Australia who have just arrived in the AFC as a strong team and most especially Saudi Arabia which was their fiercest rival in the AFC.

Here’s the video of all the happenings - this time, the commentary language is Japanese… enjoy the commercials in the end as well.

New Widget: Books Currently Reading

Being inspired by some of wordpress’s bookloving bloggers, I have created a widget where I can place all the books that I’m currently reading. It’s quite amazing that I’m actually trying to go through my library once and for all this summer. I might be able to do some reviews on these books when I get the chance to - which is most likely.

I’d like to thank beryl from multiply.com for suggesting me to read “The Five People You Meet In Heaven” by Mitch Albom. It definitely motivated me to finish up the other books that I have been putting aside in a while.

To the rest, I hope you’ll be able to find the books I have listed and be able to discuss it with me or the reading community.

Cheers!

TTC STRIKE ENDS!

TTC STRIKE ENDS!

The provincial government led by Premier Dalton McGuinty was able to pass a back-to-work legislation to end the surprise walk out by the employees of the Toronto Transit Commission last Friday midnight.

To me it’s a great feeling since the city will be back to business once again. Unfortunately, someone in my family will have to wait for a couple of weeks for this and that’s my mother who have shown so much love in the family. I do hope she gets better after her surgery.

I was able to see the reactions of various people from the news and even in Youtube over the last day and a half. They definitely had the usual “OH MY GOD!” and “YOU’RE KIDDING!” and “THIS IS RIDICULOUS!”. Others had tons of stuff to say about the TTC management and the union who have failed with their leadership and have caught the whole city of Toronto in the middle of that mess regarding their bargaining agreements.

There have been a lot of people who were saying that the TTC should be an essential service. That way the workers will not be allowed to walk out and go on strike. It would be a great idea, but there are going to be some risks that the city will have to give in order for that to happen.

Whatever goes, goes… yet on the other hand we can’t all be too hasty and just let things happen in order to reach a certain goal. Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. So I wish everyone in the TTC Management, the Unions as well as all levels of government involved would be able to come up with the best collective agreement possible which can be ratified without any kind of problems.

But if you’re going to ask me, I do think the TTC should be an essential service in a city of more than 2 million - there are about a million and a half users of TTC everyday; some do have alternative ways of going from point A to B such as the car or the taxi cab or other transit systems like the GO Transit; unfortunately others do not and are reliant a hundred percent to the TTC. When going to school, to work, to medical appointments, to daycare, and others, the TTC have been a great way for people to be able to do their tasks and move on with their daily lives. Toronto is a reeeeeally really busy city if you’re going to look at it after its years of existence and amalgamation and the TTC is its very backbone.

Anyways, let’s just rejoice cause the TTC’s back on the roads!

TTC Strikes!

After rejecting to ratify the tentative deal the management of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) made with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, the TTC workers - bus drivers, streetcar and train operators, ticket collectors, maintenance and repair workers, etc. walked out of their jobs 12 midnight yesterday April 25.

With the strike and the TTC shut down, the whole city of Toronto is on a gridlock. Even I thought that it was wrong timing for them to have that strike all because I had to go to my best friend’s birthday party tonight and I had to do a lot of commitments on a Saturday.

I rely heavily on the TTC. I go to university, to the Japan Foundation and to my favourite bookstores and music stores using their bus and subway systems. With a monthly pass, I was able to roam around the city and become closer to it - considering it as a true home of mine - as years pass by. I also go to and from work using the TTC every weekends as well.

What’s so great about this transit system is that it’s one of the most organized transit systems in the world. Well for one thing, the roads in the city are all organized as well which made it easier to organize routes for buses, streetcars, light rail trains and subway trains.

But for those who work for the TTC, they need job security, which is why there is always a union to keep the workers feel safe and worry less on their jobs. I myself don’t need to think too much about whether I might get fired or not in my job because my union is covering for me - but I’m not saying this because I screw up a lot at work, as a matter of fact, it’s the contrary. The TTC definitely has the right to ask for job security and probably have the right to make it a lot more secure but I’m glad they’re aware with the fact that they can’t have everything.

The sudden shut down of the TTC shocked everyone and for sure it’s going to be hard from this point onward if ever the strike and the picket lines (if ever TTC workers do have them) would continue for several days. The Mayor, the Transportation Ministry and the Provincial Government, however, stepped in as soon as the strike began.

Let’s just pray, keep our fingers crossed, and hope that this whole dilemma with the TTC and the Transit Union will be solved in the shortest period of time possible - hopefully over the weekend so that Monday morning wouldn’t look so catastrophic on the streets.

Portico Quartet

At last, after months of searching videos, I found a really good quality video of Portico Quartet, a British experimental jazz band which is well known for its hung drum rhythms.

Here’s one video that I would like to share:

“Cittagazze” by Portico Quartet

There’s no other jazz bands so far that could replace this band which have moved me so much ever since I learned about them almost 2 years ago.

Jazz have become a source for my life full of turns and tricks. The unstable beats, the aggressive and defensive expressions, the interpretation of a culture or an idea; a multi-sided perspective of life played all in one piece, all in one genre; it links the honest and the humble to the pretentious and the hypocritical, the joyful and cheerful to the sorrowful and miserable, the uplifting to the disparaging. Two sides that we have to accept in life.

Nothing can ever replace jazz in my mind.

The Need to Catch-up with Fighting Games

Many years have passed since I took fighting games seriously. As of now, I don’t even have a fighting game for my precious PS2. I felt so disappointed that Dead or Alive was created mostly for the Xbox, that I don’t hear that much from Virtua Fighter until their recent installment which is created for the PS3, that I find Guilty Gear and SNK Games really tough, that I missed out on Tekken 5 for the PS2, that I detested Soul Calibur because of it’s awful popularity among gamers, that I wasn’t able to get my hands on Street Fighter and Rival Schools lately, that I totally missed out essentially on fighting games.

I dunno what to say but I need to get back to fighting games to release the emotions that I have always kept in myself for a long time, and it’s been a good 7 years too I have to admit and in that 7 years, I only played fighting games 5 times (if I’m not mistaken).

I wanna come back to total the computer so bad that it will spark some inspiration in my life.

My Philosophy

I’ve been updating a lot “MY PHILOSOPHY” which you can see and click on the menu above. I only wrote eleven points in my philosophy and my head is shaking sooooo much! But I think it’s all good since I can release all my thoughts in that page and move on with what I usually do here which is blogging.

Anyways, I do hope that there will be people coming over this blogsite to check out my philosophies as well and discuss with me some of the issues I laid. Make sure to read everything especially #11 before making a comment. I always appreciate a person or two dropping by to make comments or even better start a discussion.

Thanks and Ciao!