Juan Carlos Ferrero

Juan Carlos Ferrero retires from professional tennis. Bring out the tissue.

Oh God, why?!

The 32-year-old Spanish former world number 1 decides to call it quits after losing in the Valencia Open 500. Born February 12, 1980, JC Ferrero won the 2003 French Open title. I always tune in when he plays so I'm feeling pangs of sadness right now.

Final tournament.

This face.

This man.

This champion.

Why can't Radek Stepanek retire instead?!

Pretty Beautiful: The Olympics 2012 Edition

When Yahoo made that stupid list of "hot" Olympians, what's even more stupid is this blog entry. Haha.

Italy's top swimmer Federica Pellegrini still has her records on for the 200m Freestyle qualifying heats earlier as she qualified the fastest.

Ryan Lochte is now the poster-boy for American swimming ever since he won the gold against Michael Phelps. He scores more than Phelps in the looks department but Michael Phelps scores a whole lot more in the body department.

Face.

Body.

Stephanie Rice was Australia's Golden Girl, having won 3 Olympic Gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, setting up 3 World Records in the process. Unfortunately, she's making me cry at the moment having qualified just 9th in the 200m IM heats earlier. Huhu. Semifinals later!

Okay, there are too many Americans in Yahoo's list. I can sense no bias. If Alex Morgan (from the USA American football team) is here, where's Hope Solo?!

Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova (who shamefully eats tons of Nutella) are here. That list would be even more stupid if the tennis players are not there. Russia and Slovakia's main players. No need to add anything else.

SVK.

RUS.

Hello, The Missile!! James Magnussen would be splashing the waters tomorrow. So excited! Hahaha.

Stare down competition!

Of course, Kobe Bryant forever. :)

Who's missing? Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva, USA's Hope Solo, and probably Mexico's Fernanda Gonzalez.

While We Wait for The Olympics: Mugshots Edition Part 2

So okay, the previous entry about the mugshots were a little... mean horrendous, let's add more insult to injury to the athletes by featuring a couple of swimming teams to watch for (I was half-tempted to write "favorite" but if you read on, I will mention that word a hundredfold).

Laure Manaudou of France.

The French team gave justice to the page. They have similar backdrops with equally good lighting and quality. My fascination with swimming actually jump-started with Eurosports being in our cable provider. I've always been watching the different heats and when the 2008 Beijing Olympics unfolded, it was a natural thing to be attached to it.

One thing with the British swimming delegates...they have horrible not so good photos. I'd still root for Rebecca Adlington, though! Host nation must not disappoint.

The Americans are also a top-notch. They never back down, but with their photos, hmmm. Let's just let their swimming do the talking. Natalie Coughlin, Missy Franklin, Michael Phelps, Katie Ziegler, and Ryan Lochte will make tsunami-like splashes no doubt about that... but please just forget about their photos on the Olympic site.

But of course, my favorites are from the Land Down Under. Australia has been proud of their swimming team and after 4 long years, I still want their 2008 Olympics jacket - the green, the yellow, the kangaroos. Their swimming page also got it right, actually they are the ones who made it perfect. Similar themes in their photos with the lighting, backdrop, and even uniform (it's like your senior yearbook, only better). Good job, Australia! Hoping you bag as much medals as you can. Presenting two photos from the Aussie team, with my cherished Stephanie Rice and their new gun James "The Missile" Magnussen.

James Magnussen of Australia.

Stephanie Rice of Australia.

Staring Contest

And while we're at posting photos of beautiful people, let's continue with the festive spirit! From the perfect person to be cast as Christian Grey (from that popular book "50 Shades of Grey") to the feisty Catwoman, Matt Bomer and Anne Hathaway are the ultimate stare-buddies.

*hypnotized*

Anne Hot-away. Click to make image larger. Tralala.

While We Wait for The Olympics: Mugshots Edition

Since I've been on an Olympic high, I have been favoring my swimmers and tennis players over the other sports such as track and field, football, volleyball, and basketball. (The sports I mentioned are mostly those I would watch anyway. Hahaha.) If it doesn't show, I'm really really excited for the Olympics and my excitement doesn't wane even if I haven't had any shots of liquid crack (caffeine).

You can browse in the London 2012 site the mugshots of the athletes participating in the 2012 London Olympics. Okay, the "mugshots" of the athletes in the www.london2012.com are very entertaining. Let's go to the Tennis page and comment. We can have our swimmers later.

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ZOMG. The photos are horrible!!! I know we know that tennis players are gorgeous people and they look amazing in television and most of the times in print as well. However, their mugshots in this site are really blasphemous! Pure injustice.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Maria Sharapova of Russia.

 Andy Murray (GBR) looks like he's been convicted of a crime, well most of the photos are either "passport photos" or bathroom photos - which look like they were taken from the bathroom suffering from poor lighting and poor cellphone cameras. Maria Sharapova (RUS) has that passport photo look while Novak Djokovic (SRB) looks like he's applying for a job.

Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

For our best mugshots regardless of their popularity and photogenic factors, I would say Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) looks like she's going to a party (woot woot), Feliciano Lopez got the lighting and smile perfectly (with that beautiful hair), and well, Victoria Azarenka (BLR) nailed this. Her photo says "the Olympics is going to be a fun spectacle and I'm going to win it, you byootches."
Well done, Queen V, well done. *slow clap*

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

It's Charlize Theron Season!!!

When I watched the MTV Movie Awards, I just realized it's Charlize Theron season. Well she has "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Prometheus" released this year so we'll be seeing a lot of her in the movie and computer screens whether we like it or not. Actually, I have done a downloading spree of her movies and I've dedicated some time to watch and finish them. Yes. Charlize Theron deserves the time.

All hail Queen Ravenna!

When I saw the trailer of Snow White and the Huntsman, I saw how beautiful the evil Queen Ravenna is! Well, Chris Hemsworth aka the mighty Thor was also there plus the Twilight lady K-Stew. I have to, have to watch this flick. Then it hit me, how many movies of Charlize Theron have I actually seen? Well there's the Italian Job and Aeon Flux... And... I can't remember anything else. Oh snap.

So the first thing I've back-tracked is Young Adult by Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman. It's about a young adult fiction writer returning to her hometown trying to rekindle an old flame. Most still recognize her as the popular girl in high school who made it big in Minneapolis. They don't know she's been dealing with a lot of issues and her visit back to her hometown, the fictional Mercury, helps her to grow up and move on with her life. Well just like a usual Diablo Cody film, it's laced with humor and the story's always a pleasure to see unfold right before your eyes.

Next one I've seen is Snow White and the Huntsman. Okay, we know the reviews, we've read some of them and skimmed to the critics' comments about Kristen Stewart. Some said Snow White (played by Kristen Stewart) was overpowered by the two other main characters - Queen Ravenna and the Huntsman. We're not sure if this is because of how Snow White's character was written for the screen or is this another case of K-Stew's alleged non-existent acting skills. Let's just lean on the former, it's the writer's fault! Nonetheless, it's a good 2 hours of your time and the dark theme of the movie with glorious special effects make the movie worth watching. There's action, enchanting scenery, a lot of special effects, lots of beautiful crowns and dresses for the Queen, Chris Hemsworth's increasing fanbase, and Snow White pulling off a Joan of Arc stunt.

Snow White, the Queen, and the Huntsman. <3

Admit it, she has the best crown and dresses.

Revenge and the Six Movies

Finishing (finally!) the season-finale of "Revenge" and watching 6 movies (1 in the cinema in 3D while the rest are downloads at home) are definitely kicking-up my work-life weekends. I have dropped the idea of turning on my work laptop and checking emails over the weekend as well. The unnecessary stress is not needed and it's an accomplishment for me whenever I do that, which basically means more food for me as a reward. I reward myself with food, like a dog.

Revenge - the series, although not written with much depth, is entertaining enough as the characters are beautifully flawed. There are a lot of WTF and how-the-heck moments but this show can get your bum glued to your seat and keep on waiting until the lead character finally makes a mistake. The main character, portrayed by the pretty Emily VanCamp, is not really a genius psycho-plotter but she's vindictive enough to dedicate herself to the downfall of the people in her list. Plus she has mastered martial arts and is filthy rich. Well, this is not a review of the series although it's interesting to write about it, too.

Emily VanCamp.

What about the season finale? It sure made things more interesting! I'm always amazed by season finales, maybe that's the only time the writers are required to stay in a room and not leave until they churn out an episode that can make the whole world rotate the other way. Their first season finale has a lot of things going on, is action-packed (good for ADHD folks), and they definitely supplemented a new twist.

How about the movies? Well, it started with watching "Men in Black 3 in 3D" (sometimes 3D is just painful in the eyes) and noticing that the younger Agent O looks familiar. Turns out she's in "Sex and the City 2" (as Erin the bra-less Irish nanny) which I finally watched when I got home. There's something wrong with SATC2 but it's SATC, there's got to be something wrong with it for it to work out. (Side, it's my first time to actually see the trailer of "Resident Evil: Retribution" in 3D. I can't wait to see Rain back alive as well as Jill Valentine in action. Oh gosh, girly crushes! Not to mention fan-girl flailing will occur.) Afterwards, I watched "Chloe", the movie of Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore, and Liam Neeson. A very intriguing story which makes me believe now that glass houses are not really safe. Hello next day. After another day of pigging out at a restaurant, I managed to watch "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", Hollywood's version. I have watched the 3 Swedish versions of the film and I'm interested in how Hollywood's pulling this off. Hey, not bad. The dragon tattoo of Rooney Mara looks really nice and dark, indicating that either the character doesn't get the chance to expose it to sunlight or the tattoo is newly acquired. Then I went downstairs for more movies. "This Means War" starring Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon, and Tom Hardy, is an entertaining film with a (really) stupid ending. End of story. To cap off the disappointment I had, I opted to watch "A Dangerous Method" which I'm pretty sure will make me (and you) fall asleep in no time. Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, and Viggo Mortensen portrayed Sabina Spielrein, Carl Jung, and Sigmund Freud respectively. It is, a live version of your psychology textbook.

Revenge, MIB3, SATC2, Chloe, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, This Means War, A Dangerous Method, 2 restaurants, and a short run. Not bad for a weekend.

The Original Hit-Girl Before Becoming A Black Swan

Geez this was drafted last March.

While I'm complaining to my friend (from acquaintance, we're now friends!) about Natalie Portman and how much I love her, he asked if I have watched "Leon: The Professional." Being a Natalie Portman fan, I haven't. I thought I would cry right then and there as to why I haven't watched it. After controlling my lachrymal ducts for a possible waterworks, it turns out that it's a 1994 movie (films are immortal, what were you doing when you were 4?) and I thought my friend's a pedophile searching through old movies - just to see how wonderful actors were when they were kids.

What I thought of my friend while he was telling me about Leon: The Professional.

I asked why was he interested in the movie and he mentioned that it's like Kick-Ass. Knowing how Hit-Girl has changed my life (as I claim it did) he recommended the movie to me. It's like Hit-Girl's story, adding Natalie Portman into the mix makes it a worthwhile trade. Complete with the hairstyle, it's so much Hit-Girl. Well Natalie's character did not do murderous, violent stunts and holy-schmoly-did-that-just-happen moves in the movie, there were similarities.

There's no need to compare the "action scenes" of both movies as the 16-year gap gives a huge advantage to Kick-Ass. What we want here is obviously Natalie Portman when she was 13 years old pitted with Chloe Grace Moretz when she was, well, 13 years old too. This was Natalie's first film and it was mentioned that she used her grandmother's maiden name, Portman, instead of her surname (Hershlag) in case she does really bad in the film and shame her family name in the process. Humorous.

Natalie when she was 13.

Chloe when she was 13.

I'm sure when I was 13, I was not pointing a gun at someone else. I was busy stuffing facts and mythological characters in my head. And no was attempting to blow my brains out as well.

We're in the Russian Parliament, Baby!

When my boyfriend ultimate favorite (former) tennis player decided to go into politics, I thought maybe he was a little sexy-mad that time. Then poof. He freaking won. Marat Safin is part of the Russian federal parliament. Although he's part of Putin's party which is currently the target of 140% voters-turn-out jokes, in my heart I know a lot of people voted for him. So shut the crap up and believe in Marat Safin! I wonder how many tables or chairs would be smashed when he's mad. Incredible Hulk. You no make Marat mad.

MORAL: When you're a retired professional athlete, either go into show business or politics. It works.

The Roommate is Minka Kelly and Leighton Meester

Warning: Photo alert.


So we're on a roll! We have kick-ass pairs in the movie screen, coming from the previous Pretty Beautiful post. When twin sisters Minka Kelly and Gossip Girl Leighton Meester star in a movie, you want to expect yourself getting confused on who's who at times. And then you add The Vampire Diaries stars Nina Dobrev and Katerina Graham (Bonnie) in the equation, you'll definitely get a chick flick on drugs, right?

Oh crap, sorry to disappoint you. The Roommate is not really a chick flick. It's a psycho-thriller and that's how it should be. Clingy psycho rommate (who looks like you) alert! Dundunduuuuuun.

These are tv stars thrown into a Mongolian bowl of a film. Minka Kelly comes from Friday Night Lights popularity while Leighton Meester is the Queen Bee of Gossip Girl. Then we have The Vampire Diaries kiddos namely Nina Dobrev and Katerina Graham on cameo. Well, the latter are reserved for another entry, once The Vampire Diaries airs its third season soon. Are there really loads of psychos prowling around? Scary world, it is!

Camilla Belle plus Nicholas D'Agosto

Let's hit two beautiful birds in one stone. My brother for some reason downloaded the movie From Prada to Nada and so I plugged it to watch in our television. Two familiar favorites showed up in our screen, the lovely and mouth-watering duo of Camilla Belle and Nicholas D'Agosto. Okay, they look kind of similar, they could pass of as siblings.

Camilla Belle was brought into stardom (or semi-stardom whatever) from When A Stranger Calls showed in the big screen. Then next would be the silent movie 10,000 BC and also from that awesome movie, Push. Yes she has striking co-stars in the last 2 movies mentioned and this time, she has Nicholas D'Agosto for From Prada to Nada. Lucky girl.

Yes we know you have lovely eyebrows.

You already!

Y SO PRETTY?!??!

Nicholas D'Agosto first caught my eye in the movie Rocket Science but you would probably recognize him from the tv series Heroes in season 2. Next would be from the movie Fired Up! which was a little bit annoying but hey, seeing him and his smile was totally worth it.

Y SO GORGEOUS?!

Dios mio!

Now let's all bask in the goodness of nature and how they made Nicholas and Camilla perfect by staring at their photos again.


MORAL: Blondes do not necessarily have all the fun.