Only the hair that matters

If only the hair that matters, BVB would have won it by miles...

We have no doubt that Kevin Kampl will blend in well with this team. Instant bromance established.

Words I wish I Knew ... #whenEnglishfails

Found this on BBC and it's just brilliant. Words from other languages that are so apt, so descriptive of situations I've faced and remembered. Often wished that I had words to describe the circumstance - now I do.

Now I need a word for "forgetting difficult words that you wish you remembered".

 Swedish - very specifically descriptive in just a single word !

Hawaiian - I bet this happens to loads of people 

Japanese - what's the English equivalent ?

Stoned ? Zoned out ? Daydreaming ? 

Welsh - Yeah, I feel this. 

More back when I was younger. 

Now I just don't have the time.

I have this down pat. I'll get around to reading them eventually.

Or at least most of them.

The Beautiful Snowflakes

I am amazed. I had not seen a snowflakes before but WOW......
Micro-photography of individual snowflakes by Alexey Kljatov

If you fall, I'm with you...

BVB is bottom at the table after a complete match day, something that doesn't happen for a long long time. They still show up. The most passionate fans in the world.  

If you fall, I'm with you...

They miss him a lot.

Mats Hummels playes Twitter better than his game at the moment

So Mats decided to answer Twitter questions since he isn't playing and training, may be too bored. And this came out. Brilliant!

  

Love will destroy you ?

Some things, once you've loved them, become yours forever. 

And if you try to let them go, they only circle back and return to you.

They become part of who you are... 



Or they destroy you.

          -- quote from Kill Your Darlings 

         

Emoji Celebration

It has been a difficult season for Borussia Dortmund so far in Bundesliga, bottom at the table and had lost 5 games in a row. The pressure must be mountain high for the coach and players. The championship is a forego thing now, hopefully BVB can still manage to quality for the CL next season. It will be such a shame if they didn't, imagine the bottom team in Bundesliga is actually at the top of group D and who said EPL is better than Bundesliga? :-)

Certain Marco Reus still managed to celebrate his goals with some creativity that buzzed the net.

He said it has got nothing to do with the excessive rumours and the overly discussed topic by others about his future. But we kind of like related to it, he is not going to read and listen to any of those rumours; and definitely he won't tell us about his decision until the time is right. So all those Liverpool, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man City and Uniteds' fan please hold your peace until than.

Sunday Nights with Mr Acker Bilk

Dedicated to the man whose song illuminated so many of my Sunday Nights.

Alan Zechariah and Reezal Abdullah spun many excellent songs in their radio show "Memories are Made of This" on Sunday nights. I loved that show and made it a point to tune in whenever I could. Not only were the songs lovely, but they managed to find so many really obscure songs that I used it like a Discovery Channel for old time music. It was a brilliant show and there was great regret on my part when the station decided to end the show.

But always ..... always, the highlight of the show was Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore". The song bookended the show and, be it in my room or in the car, the first strains of that clarinet invariably drew me into the song. There are many songs that I like, fewer that are favourites, even less if you were to ask me for the first few to pop into my mind. This is one of those 'lesser than few' songs.



Rest In Peace, Mr Acker Bilk.

The one who missed the big prize

He is the one who missed the flight, injured a day before the team departed to Brazil. Most of the general public may have known him for THAT jersey, for the bromance between these two talented players but for football fans he is still recognized as a very good player, with or without World Cup.

His name is Marco Reus....
Here is a little story about the boy who just loves play football.

Who wants to visit Mumbai? or it is Bombay?

So here I was in Mumbai for a short trip. Despite not been my dream holidays destination, I still managed to visit part of Mumbai or Bombay? The tour guide told me the local still prefer to called it Bombay, as it represent the essence of real Bombay. The birth place of bollywood, the place where the dream does come true...................sometime.

The infamous Mumbai's traffic. Chaotic but managed to maintain its own unique unspoken rules that still smooth moving. 

 The open laundry of Mumbai, world largest open laundry that exist for generations.  

The house of Gandhi. 

 The floating garden of Mumbai, apparently because it was build on a water tank. 

The colour and flavour of Mumbai. 

The sunset over Arabian Sea. 

The gate of India under the spotlights. 

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. 

 The Victoria Station (Train Station, where the J-hou song was filmed) 

Mumbai is really a mixture of rich and poor. I had seen a family's own building that consist of 27 floor, housed 4 in a family with 200 servants; I also seen those homeless by the road side where the children is half naked and just wander around on a hot day of 31C. You can be a wealthy king here and vise versa; you can be in heaven or otherwise. 

the Sony Experia Experience

I must admit that I use only a few features in a smartphone. I'm not really into tech gadgets per se but I do use them for convenience. So when the old Sony was struggling with memory issues (planned obsolescense - damn you, tech companies!  :-) ), it was time to change.

As usual, Dream handled the changeover with tech gadgets. As for me, my main criteria for buying a smartphone is the camera. And since the latest technology was not a priority, the Sony Experia Z1 was one I had my eye on. Lovely camera and ooohh ...... underwater photo capabilities. Limited underwater capabilities notwithstanding, I was keen to see what I could get out of it. Methinks the results have been worth it.

the kids' gear was bought with an eye to facilitate photographs 

 

I love the fact that even with all that colour, the photos can be pretty good in B&W

 this photo was the one I loved the most from our fumblings in the 1st pool photo session

inspired by snow angels 

Catriona in the float again; even though she can swim

And this last one is rather self indulgent. The only editing I do for my photographs is cropping, B&W and a rare straightening. I'm not too keen on the wonders of Photoshop; not that it's not a wonderful product but there's a thin line where a photograph is edited until it's more digital art than photograph. I choose to keep my photo editing basic for documentation purposes - but that's a personal choice.

Using a red filter effect. I thought that the original photo was okay .... but not good nor great. It looked a lot better through a red filter. Hence why I think that most anybody can make a great photo with enough PS editing. The only question is whether it's a photograph any more ? Think photoshop of stars in magazine shoots - is that what their face and body really looks like ? To each their own.

the Ego has Landed ...

It should make for an interesting season. Certainly a better one than under the unfortunate Moyes.

I'm looking forward to it.

Germany ...... Finally !!

Following the German national team has been a frustrating experience for the past few years. There has been talk of a golden generation but after repeated failures to breach the Spanish tiki-taka, many were beginning to wonder whether this particular batch had the mental fortitude to win a major trophy. Well, the Spanish in this World Cup were van Gaaled and never recovered, and Joachim Loew switched and rediscovered his winning formation in the quarterfinal against France. And then this German team made history.

So, wonder no more. This batch HAS the team spirit and mentality to win a World Cup. And they're young enough to be favourites for the next European Championships and World Cup. Talk of a golden generation has been justified. I'll just chuck in a few photos to mark the occasion.

Didn't matter where the goalkeeper was. Gotze was always going for the far post.

Having said that, the technique was perfect.

How many Germans can you fit into a Mini ?

given Brazil's construction problems for this World Cup,

I kinda wondered whether the stage would collapse

Manuel Neuer : the latest in a long line of world class German goalkeepers

They say Germany's 12th man is a woman.

It's been a long journey. Lahm and Scgweinsteiger have graduated

 from young guns to mainstays and elder statesmen. 

Both were outstanding in the final against Argentina.

the Best way to get a Puppy is to Beg for a Baby Brother ....

Unfortunately, our apartment doesn't allow us to keep pets.

Years from now, decades even, maybe brother and sister will realize that the time they spent together was rather special. That all this playing together wasn't necessarily a given. That a five year age gap is pretty large when the younger one is not even three years of age yet.

And yet, play together they do. Getting along like a house on fire most of the time. Save for the occasional argument which doesn't last long.

The sister will bully the brother - taking advantage of the fact that she has five years more experience. While he will innocently drink more of the juice - mainly out of exuberance/greed. She's protective of him and he will imitate her words/actions. And they've learnt that collectively they have more leverage over the parents than if they were to act/ask alone.

I don't know how much longer this can go on. I'm just glad that they so obviously enjoy each other's company.

NBA Draft 2014 - a Celtic perspective

It’s NBA Draft night and hope springs eternal. All Things are Possible and none of the draftees have had time to screw things up yet.

Oops ! My bad. #3 pick Joel Embiid is already injured with a broken foot that will keep him out for the next 4-6 months. This on top of the back injury that kept him out of part of his college year as well. But hey ! He’ll recover and be the next Olajuwon – and we won’t whisper the names of Oden, Bowie and Walton. Even though foot and back injuries have a particularly bad history for 7-foot centers in the NBA.

My personal interest in NBA Draft 2014 is focused on Trader Danny Ainge – the head of the Celtics brain trust. The man who’s done it before and the man entrusted with doing it again – bringing the glory days back to the Celtics. The man who would trade his own grandmother if it could improve the Celtics.

It’s not personal, it’s just business. But Danny will be nice about it. And he may not like trading you – in fact, it may even be breaking his heart. But he’ll put his arm around you and commiserate with you and assure you that it wasn’t personal even as he’s ushering you out the door. But Danny’s a nice guy, really ! And classy too.

Anyways, with picks #6 and #17, the Celtics draft ………… Smart & Young !

this is Smart

One transition season after Danny blew the whole thing up with the Pierce and Garnett trade, Danny cashes in his first chip. Probably after trying his very best to trade away the self same draft picks. But time expired and Danny was still holding his goodie bag, so he drafted Marcus Smart and James Young. And he’ll ask Brad Stevens to develop them and find a way for Smart & Bradley & Rondo to co-exist in the backcourt.

And rumours will abound about Rondo trades now that Danny’s drafted a point guard. Just as rumours about Rondo trades have abounded for the past few years. And Danny will deny it all.

But then again, this is the guy who hired college basketball’s hottest young coach without any reporters suspecting it. Not even a Twit ! In this day and age when everybody’s got a smartphone and camera ..……

It’s NBA Draft night. Hope springs eternal and the Celtics look to Smart & Young.