Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Another sporting hoodoo has been broken. Australia, after 31 years has finally secured a World Cup spot. That game against Uruguay last night was probably one of the greatest sporting spectacles I've seen & the feeling was reminiscent of when Sydernee (thats how Juan Antonio Samaranch pronounced it) was announced as the host of the 2000 Olympics. I was glued to my seat for 3 hours watching the Socceroos dominate the Uruguayans but not after some nervous moments in the opening minutes. Alvaro Recoba, the left booted version of David Beckham was menacing with the set pieces but the moment Harry Kewell got fielded in, everything changed. Five minutes in the field & he delivered with a nasty setup to Marco Bresciano for a 1-0 lead. But that meant a score of only 1-1 on aggregate so the Socceroos still has a long way to go. The second half was entirely dominated by Australia but they couldnt finish it off & everyone in the club were dreadful of the possibility of a penalty shootout which happened after a goalless extra time. Kewell cooly sank the first one & when Mark Schwarzer saved the Uruguay penalty, we can almost smell Germany. But after Mark Viduka stuffed up his shot, panic mode set in. Luckily, Schwarzer's brilliance came into play again as he saved Zalayeta's kick so when John Aloisi nailed the finishing goal everyone in the club were ecstatic & started hugging each other. I seized the moment & hugged this pretty Chinese/Japenese/Korean girl sitting next to our table. Outside it was fiesta as people who just got out from different pubs were celebrating although some drunken louts were trashing rubbish bins & carrying on like idiots. Nonetheless it was a good feeling & it carried on this morning when my boss brought a box of Krispy Kreme for morning tea. Last year, the Red Sox won the ML after 80-something years & this year it was the White Sox's turn, not to mention my beloved Sydney Swans also winning the AFL after 38 years. Makes me wonder what's next? The Mavs winning the NBA after 25 years? Me winning the karaoke grandfinals on Friday after 6 years. hehe asa pa!
posted by uging |
3:26 PM
Monday, November 07, 2005
Been in and out of the hospital this past few weeks for various reasons. Quarterly checkups with my doctor & dietitian plus I also had my ingrown toenail removed. Its been pestering me for months & finally had it fixed. I usually dread the hospital but now it has become a thing to look forward to. Not only coz I somehow lose weight after each session but my dietitian is HOT. She looks a bit like Gabrielle Carteris whom I've always considered as the hottest 90210 chick. Anyway I'm scheduled for another trip there in 2 weeks but she specifically asked me to write down what I eat & in detail before I see her so she can monitor my progress better. Problem is, how would I explain 'tinola' to her? I dont think its the same as hainan chicken even though it tastes the same. But its all good. I've lost a kilo according to that 90-yr old scale. And my blood glucose is hovering around the 5-6 mark (7 being in the 'diabetic' radar).
posted by uging |
3:08 PM
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| Band of Bloggers |
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curves ahead
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the princess
she likes to watch
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| Weekly Top 10: Fave George Benson & Al Jarreau tracks |
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10.Lady Love Me One More Time
9.Feel Like Makin Love
8.20/20
7.This Masquerade
6.Love Times Love
5.Turn Your Love Around
4.Were In This Love Together
3.Boogie Down
2.Mornin`
1.Breakin Away
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| Musical heroes: Def Leppard |
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Def Leppard, in many ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s. There were many bands that rocked harder, and were more dangerous, than the Sheffield quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well. Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam-rock and metal of the early '70s — their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard were poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. The group was already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos, which made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly, but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria. As the '90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard's signature pop-metal and towards edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late '90s and were one of only a handful of '80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact.
Def Leppard had its origins in a Sheffield-based group Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in their late teens in 1977. A few months later, vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatic follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band, bringing the name Deaf Leopard. After a spelling change, the trio, augmented by a now-forgotten drummer, began playing local Sheffield pubs, and within a year they had added guitarist Steve Clark, as well as a new drummer. Later in 1978, the recorded their debut EP Getcha Rocks Off and released it on their own label, Bludgeon Riffola. The EP became a word-of-mouth success, earning airplay on the BBC. The group members were still in their teens.
Following the release of Getcha Rocks Off, Rick Allen was added as the band's permanent drummer, and Def Leppard quickly became the subject of the British music weeklies. Soon, they signed with AC/DC's manager Petter Mensch, who helped them secure a contract with Mercury. On Through the Night, the band's full-length debut, was released in 1980 and instantly became a hit in the U.K., also earning significant airplay in the U.S., where it reached number 51 on the charts. Over the course of the year, Def Leppard relentlessly toured Britain and America, including opening slots for Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hagar and Judas Priest. High N' Dry followed in 1981, and it became the group's first platinum album in the U.S., thanks to MTV's strong rotation of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak." MTV would be vital to the band's success in the '80s.
As the band recorded the follow-up to High N' Dry with producer Mutt Lange, Pete Willis was fired from the band for alcoholism, and Phil Collen, a former guitarist for Girl, was hired to replace him. The resulting album, 1983's Pyromania, became an unexpected blockbuster, due not only to Def Leppard's skillful, melodic metal, but also to MTV's relentless airing of "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages." Pyromania went on to sell 10 million copies, establishing Def Leppard as one of the most popular bands in the world. Despite their success, the band was about to enter a trying time for their career. Following an extensive international tour, the group re-entered the studio to record the follow-up, but producer Lange was unavailable, so they began sessions with Jim Steinman, the man responsible for Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. The pairing turned out to be ill-advised, so the group turned to its former engineer, Nigel Green. One month into recording, Rick Allen lost his left arm in a New Year's Eve car accident. The arm was reattached, but it had to be amputated once an infection set in.
Without a drummer, Def Leppard's future looked cloudy, but by the spring of 1985 — just a few months after his accident — Allen began learning to play a custom-made electronic kit assembled for him by Simmons. Soon, the band resumed recording, and within a few months Lange was back on board, but once he joined the team, he judged the existing tapes inferior and had the band begin work all over again. The recording continued throughout 1986, and that summer, the group returned to the stage for the European Monsters of Rock tour. Def Leppard finally completed its fourth album, now titled Hysteria, early in 1987, releasing it that spring to lukewarm reviews; many critics felt that the album compromised Leppard's metal roots for sweet pop flourishes. The record was slow out of the starting gates — "Women," the first single, failed to really take hold. But with the second single, "Animal," Hysteria began to take off. It became the group's first Top 40 hit in the U.K., but more importantly, it began a string of six straight Top 20 hits in the U.S., which also included "Hysteria," "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Love Bites," "Armageddon It" and "Rocket," the latter of which arrived in 1989, a full two years after the release of Hysteria. During those two years, Def Leppard was unavoidable — they were the kings of high school metal, ruling the pop charts and MTV, and teenagers and bands alike replicated their teased hair and ripped jeans, even when the grimy hard rock of Guns N' Roses took hold in 1988.
Hysteria proved to be the peak of Leppard's popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early '90s as the band set to work on the record. During the recording, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Clark had long had a problem with alcohol, and following the Hysteria heyday, the band forced him to take a sabbatical; he did enter rehab, but to no apparent effect. In fact, his abuse was so crippling that Collen had to play the majority of the guitar leads on Hysteria. Following Clark's death, Def Leppard resolved to finish its forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several hit singles, including "Let's Get Rocked," "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" and "Make Love Like a Man," the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After the release of Adrenalize, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell.
In 1993, Def Leppard released the rarities collection Retro Active, featuring a new single, "Miss You in a Heartbeat," which scraped the lower reaches of the Top 40. Two years later, the group released the greatest hits collection Vault while preparing their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it was more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, proving that Leppard's heyday had passed, and they were now simply a very popular cult band.
Undaunted, Leppard soldiered on, returning to its patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999.
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DISCLAIMER: The title URBAN WANDERER as well as the link titles to other blogs are song titles from a jazz band. I used these titles as a gesture of appreciation & gain no financial benefits from this & in no way used to promote my blog. For the real deal, visit their website.
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