The focus is on the sports, douche-bags

Perhaps the party's decision to order a pretty 9-year-old girl to lip-synch the patriotic singing of another girl deemed insufficiently cute for the opening ceremony can be dismissed as a misguided quest for artistic perfection. Nor the manhandling of journalist by police -- as happened on Wednesday (Aug 13) during a small pro-Tibet demonstration -- an unusual event.

Indeed, it is an not an unusual event after recalling the standards set by Simon Cowell in every seasons of American Idol and X Factor. His attitude towards the not-so-good-looking girls are bluntly offensive and disrespectful even though the girl in question has the voice to make it to the penultimate stage of the contest. However, he certainly does know what a star-quality is made of and there is not even a shadow of doubt that he is able to find and pick up the most sparkling gem of all.

One (or many) of UK's newspapers questioned the party's decision, "Is she too ugly?". The comments were mostly ignorant and completely in breach for blatantly disregarding cultural background that is implicitly tied to the decision.

Words used in association to highlight the news, e.g. fake, scandal, cute girl forced to mime, banned, etc. in my opinion are all over-the-board harsh and unjustified. They were all from UK's newspapers. The person who entitled his/her article "...cute girl forced to mime after China banned..." has to be obtuse, retard, and stupendously ignorant. It was a very difficult CHOICE for Mr. Chen to make.

“The reason why little Peiyi was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image. The reason was for the national interest,” said Chen Qigang, the renowned contemporary composer and French citizen who directed the music for the opening ceremony.

“The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects but in terms of voice Yang Peiyi is perfect.” Chen is, nevertheless, operating on the same level of professional capacity as our Mr. Nasty Cowell. China has put up a spectacular show for the world to see and in pursuit showed over 3/4 of the world's population that a new economic super powerhouse dawns upon us. There are doubts that London 2012 Opening Ceremony or even hosts of future Olympics opening ceremony can top over what China has done.

Enough said. Team GB has not even gold medals (or just medals per se) to compare with the US, Germany, Italy, or China! However, they surely deserve abundant gold medals binge-drinkings, alcohol intoxication, and the sports of idiocy. This certain groups of British are definitely making a name for the English people -- by tarnishing and marring UK's global image with their undivided love for alcohol. It is understood why even the commentators at BBC for the Olympics are biased and prejudiced towards team China. Again, the focus is on the sports and team GB has even lost to Australia (biggest colony). I can only sigh in disbelieve and thinking 'What a bunch of douche-bag sore-losers.'

The Iraq War was about Oil, all along

As a supplement to this video posting, also read this article

England's earthquake

A 5.2 on the Ritcher scale earthquake was felt throughout England just last night (around 12:56 AM). I thought I felt something but I was not conscious to verify anything. I was fast asleep.

I have not experienced what a tremor is like. All would describe it as "deep and rumbling sound" and no one will ever know when the time-ticking bomb will unleash its horrors upon the land. Maybe I don't ever want to know what it is or feels like.

Yesterday, it was extremely windy. There was so much wind that even a mother pushing her child on the stroller was almost blown away. They were walking on the sidewalks when a sudden strong gush of wind displaced the straight path of both the mother and the stroller. It almost went off the side curb and into the road where vehicles were passing by.

Please be pray for peace for all England.
Comments on your experiences (if you're in the UK) welcomed.

Homecoming 2

Good news, I will be visiting home country again in December. This time HF will be coming with me. If I manage to drag her icy cold feet far enough, we'll be there till Jan 2, 2008. She'll be meeting my parents and family members for the first time, thus the cold numb feet.

This Time Last Year
...we were behaving like two lunatics running ecstatically and randomly on the streets in Florence (Italy) with a camera wielded in our hands snapping at everything we see. Being silly as we can get was perhaps about the only way to show that we were truly enjoying ourselves -- especially HF. If memory serves the better of me, I doubt we have not mimicked every statues and sculptures that we come across. While I tried not to be a HF's joy-killer, I couldn't help but to feel a little empty as I look at the sculptures. And obviously enough, that sculpture looked back at me, probably probing the million dollar question, "What do you know about me?"
"I have absolutely no clue, David! I just know 'that' (imagining pointing at 'that') is puny because all you need is just a leave to acquit you from public indecency."

We didn't have the luxury of time and money, and perhaps above all, knowledge as to spark a genuine interest to visit the museums. At the very least, I know HF doesn't have any. Time was spent exploring the city of Florence. We stumbled upon a street stretched over a bridge (Ponte Vecchio & Arno River) where jewelers ruled the streets. If it was night time, I bet the glitters from every hundreds of jeweler stores would be bright enough to illuminate the sidewalks of that street! Suddenly, HF was paralyzed torso down & neck up. Stuck at Ponte Vecchio, Italy's oldest and longest surviving stone bridge, it was also the longest agonizing moments I had to go through with HF who at the time seem to be hypnotized and enchanted by the glittering colors of gold, silver, and diamonds. She tried to convinced me that she was not the only one, and indeed, she was not the only one with torso and mental paralysis by acute golden sort of rays. Did I look surprise? I masked it, but I did enjoy myself nevertheless -- observing the behaviors of the paralysis captivating them by these jewelries. I wish to return to this place when I could afford a jewelry or two for my beloved one.

I, however, do have my fair share of paralysis too. But of magnificent structures and pizzas! We arrived at Florence's duomo megastructure -- Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore -- designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. It is an astounding structure and a landmark. Being there reminded me not only can we achieve great things in life, but also the impossible. I recalled the documentary I watched on discovery channel about Esref Armagan, a blind painter, who was right here on an experiment test to prove that he could draw Brunelleschi's dome with perspective. He was born blind. He passed the test. All he did was a couple of touches on Brunelleschi's six-sided dome structure. Sat down and began drawing. It was mind-boggling.

Filippo Brunelleschi's Basillica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy.

Filippo Brunelleschi's Basillica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy.

Golden sculptured panels of biblical stories (I think) on an entrance gate.

Hf and I before the 'wallpapered' duomo

Inside the duomo, the artworks of painters, sculptors, stonemasonry, etc were all out of the ordinary. Awesome! Just have to be there to absorb my statements.

The Trompe-l'œil of Niccolò da Tolentino, the famed condottiero.

Enchanted! Beyond-words beautiful frescos -- the interiors of the duomo.

...a closer look

While these ceiling frescos are not decorated with gold leafs and/or paints as did the doumo of Marco Polo in Venice, they are still as impressive!

At the end of our trip, I had to readjust the position of my head-neck to be forward looking. There were just too many to see. The ones in Sistine Chapel had the better of my neck! But it was fun!

When I first saw Duomo Fiore, it was late evening and we were looking for our hotel. The exterior of the duomo looked as though the entire structure was wallpapered with green bar strips. When we were there again the next morning, HF laughed at me right in my face, "So, wallpapered huh? Idiot!!" Great, I became the butt of the joke first thing in the morning!

Home made super-freaking-'solutely delicious original Italian Margheritta pizza, only available in Naples, home to professional Italian pickpockets and thieves. Thank God I still had enough spare change to afford this mouth-watering aromatic pizza!

Possibly traveling the Peninsula
This December we may be visiting Singapore, an island of Malaysia for either snorkling or scuuba diving, and Thailand. Looking forward to get together with family and friends once again.

Italian Police Patrol Cars

Italian Police Lamborghini - video powered by Metacafe

Madness award

MAD FOR SEX:

A husband who lost his sexual inhibitions after sustaining a severe head injury at work has won over £3 million [in compensation]. London's High Court awarded Stephen Tame the money, saying that his sexual and behavioral problems had ended his marriage and left him needing 24-hour professional care. Since the accident Tame has said embarrassing things in the company of others, misbehaved in the presence of females and been ringing sex-lines. The judge said that the award was of a significant amount considering Tame had "lost his marriage and probably lost the prospect of a family."

December 20, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/6193693.stm

It's like saying Tame comes back from death, shags many many people (women), and receives £3 million for it! He lost his wife btw due to his intolerable behavior. What do yo think?