I am Your Sunshine

Blue October was awesome!
Dodn’t hear much of Augustana, pity. But I think they’re gonna open for Snow Patrol this Sunday.

The distinct smell of Cab calmed my agitated nerves (like Mrs. Bennet, I have poor nerves XD). Gotta get up at 5:30 tomorrow (Selina knows why. Okay, J knows too!), don’t feel like sleeping at all, and there are people playing upstairs which made it even harder to fall asleep. Lying in bed, staring at the Cabernet on the TV stand across the room, I thought “what the heck”, took the tool Kedi gave to me just a few days ago with the I’m-gonna-have-to-drink-it-with-my-Chelsea-mug (it’s the only drinkware I have downstair) determination and tried to open the bottle. I did struggle a bit whether I should go upstais to get a glass (it’s so wrong to drink wine in a mug), but that’d beat the whole purpose of keeping it low profile. <- They might think, you're not sleeping, what the heck are you complaining about our noise? But the tool didn't work, so I took a paper bag, went upstairs, said hi to people, politely declined their invitation of joining them (since I can't sleep anyway) saying I have to get up early, get my corkscrew and a wine glass and reassured them that they're not making too much a fuzz. Finally, back to my only tiny but cozy space, with Katie Melua and Diana Krall singing (not at the same time though), I opened Chateau St. Jean (I have 3 Cabs at hand, a 2003 Chateau St. Jean, a 2002 Chateau Souverain and a 2003 Mayo. Believe me, I'm not gonna open Mayo for this kind of "occasion".) A bit too sour. Maybe it's too young? (Nothing can compare with 2002/2003 Rober Mondavi Stags District Cabernet Sauvignon) I'm gonna go to bed now, with a glass of cab and read Sideways til I'm really sleepy. * Such an enjoyment, reading Sideways while a glass of wine by my side. I've always wanted to drink while erading the book, and now I finally did it. * After opening up, the Cab is actually much better. Not so sharp (young and aggressive) anymore, became smoother. But still I have to say, nothing can compare with RM S district Cab.

(Actually I finished writing this piece before “Dancing with the Stars season 3 premiere, because unfortunately, I finished watching the result show before the competition itself /_\ Bloody, bloody Tuesday…)

The result show has changed through the last two seasons. In first season, the results were revealed at the begining of the following episode; in second season, the program expanded from 6 to 10 couples, from 1 hour to 90 minutes and an one hour result show was added to the following night.

They do know how to keep audiences watching. The result show revealed staying couples gradually, mixed with clips of previous night’s performances, professional performance, “dancing with a viewer” and encore performance chosen by the judges and audiences. Today, Emmitt was chosen to do an encore. Even though they didn’t score the highest last night, Emmitt’s surprisingly charming performance sure stole a lot of hearts.

Willa & Max, 3rd place last night, was the bottom 3 tonight. It was embarrassing. Like I said before, being a actor/actress does have its advantage in this competition. Even if you cannot achieve technical greatness, you can still manage to put a good show on your facial expression, and that counts, a lot. When you did a good performance and you score high, if you don’t stand out in personality, there’s a risk that viewers will be rushing to rescue their other favorite couples thinking you don’t need their votes. Anyways, if a couple doesn’t have enough charm, it’s not too much a shame to see them go. Afterall, it’s not a pro competition.

*Samantha’s new hair style – one thumb down
(can’t find her photo with her silly hair, so I put a pretty one)

Dancing with the Star is back!!!
First run, Men – cha cha cha and Women – Foxtrot

Joey & Edyta

Joey Lawrence: Actor (I always think actors/actresses have advantage over others in this competition, provided they’re at least decent ones)

Edyta Sliwinska: Third season for her. She had partnered with George Hamilton and Evander Holyfield. It seems that she has better luck this time.

Surprisingly good for first run. But according to Tom, they have 6 weeks before this, so I guess they should give a good performance. Still, I still consider it strategicly not good to score too high in early stages.

Sara & Tony

Sara Evans: Top country singer. Shes practices while touring and taking care of her 3 kids.

Tony Dovolani: partnered with Stacy Kiebler in second season, they were highly praised but ended up 3rd place in the finale.

Sara was stiff. Seeing her Foxtrot with Tony made me think of the very first Foxtrot I saw which was performed by Stacy and Tony, beautifully, heavenly. What a pity. Sara looks graceful and elegent. Appearance-wise, she has great potential to bring a shining Foxtrot, but she just didn’t flow, let along flow smoothly.

Tucker & Elena
Tucker Carlson: News anchor with a shiny smile. He looks as if he should be in the 60s instead of persent time, from head to toe.
Elena Grinenko: Young Russian. First time.

The performance was horrible. Can’t say anything bad about Elena. Her dancing swells and she has awesome personality, but Tucker, on the other hand… Well, yeah, he enjoyed himself very much, but man, you’re here for a competition not just for fun. Judges were cruel but I totally agreed with them. I’d be meaner actually. Len said, “I wondered when you’re gonna stand up and dance, but at the moment you stood up, I’d rather see you sitting there.” He spent half of the dance sitting on a chair as if he’s on a toilet, smiling, and the other half walking… and smiling like an idiot. I feel truly deeply sorry for our new comer Elena. Hopefully we’ll be able to see you next season.

Monique & Louis

Monique Coleman: actress from Disney’s hit High School Musical.

Louis Van Amstel: Returned for his 3rd season. He previously partnered with Trista Sutter and Lisa Rinna.

Nothing much to say. She’d overdone her facial expression at the begining and then went totally numb. But I’d say Foxtrot’s not her dance, maybe she’ll shine in other Latin dances. We’ll see.

Emmitt & Cheryl
Emmitt Smith: Professional football player. NFL legend. He’s the second NFL player who participate in Dancing with the Stars (Jerry Rice in season 2)

Cheryl Burke: Champion of last season, partnered with Drew Lachey. Wonderful personality. An excellent and patient teacher, great choreographer.

It’s hard to imagine someone as huge as Emmitt dancing, let along dancing well. Emmitt surprised us all. I was expecting a tragedy like what Master P brought us in last season, but no, Emmitt can dance. They put on a great show and got standing ovation from the audeinces, which is a first in first run. One of the Smith family put it well, “It’s like watching my Teddy bear dancing!”

TBC…

Let’s get it started.

Willa & Max
Willa Ford: Pop star, singer.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy: Second timer. Partnered with Tia Carrere last season.

They’re a cute couple, surprisingly. Cause after combining viewers’ votes last night, they ranked in bottom 3. I thought they must be lacking charm. Well, I guess people just didn’t think they needed it and didn’t love them enough to want to polish their standing. Okay, their dance. It’s beautiful, but not as sensational as Stacy’s. Now whenever I saw a Foxtrot, I can’t help but comparing it with Stacy’s.

Mario & Karina

Mario Lopez: Actor and TV host. He was A.C. Slater in Saved by the Bell, one of my favorite show (but Zach was the one I’m crazy for.)

Karina Smirnoff: Ukrainian. First timer.

Ok, the photo I pick doesn’t do his cuteness and hotness justice. You’ll have to watch the clip yourself. In the clips showed before the competition, we saw Mario jumping up and down like an ADD kid. I admired Karina’s patience and was surprised that they were able to present such WOW show. Carrie Ann gave the “The couple to be” compliment. My goodness this was only the first run. They scored two 9’s this evening. We’ll see if they can keep it up. (Til now, those who blossomed early haven’t been able to win the title.) Ps. Mario was super cute and nervous.

Shanna & Jesse

Shanna Moakler: Former Miss USA/Actress. She’s going through her divorce recently. She agreed that it’s a good and healthy way to take her mind away from all those troubling stuffs.

Jesse Desot: first timer.

Stiff. No flow.

Harry & Ashly
Harry Hamlin: L.A. Law star, Last season’s Lisa Rinna’s husband.

Ashly DelGrosso: formerly partnered with Master P and Joey McIntyre.

I agreed with the judges, seeing him sitting there for almost the entire second season, we expected more than what he presented us tonight. Not much hip action. Actually there’s not much of any movement at all. And we can clearly see that Ashly’s leading. He needs to loosen up, and then we can see if he can dance or not. But like the poor Ashly said, the training they did for this run was already more than what Master P did for the entire season, so she’s happy, grateful. At least Harry’s really willing to learn.

Vivica & Nick

Vivica Fox: Actress (Independence Day, Kill Bill)

Nick Kosovich: partnered with Tatum O’Neal in second season (I don’t even know who that was.)

Vivica is so energetic! When asked if ever danced before, she answered, “well, I played a stripper in Indepedence Day.” She has vivid facial expression. Her posture can be improved, but overall, she did it beautifully. Not my ideal of Foxtrot though. She looks too powerful.

Jerry & Kym
Jerry Springer: The Jerry Springer Show.

Kym Johnson: debut.

Never watched his show; however, he’s really hilarious. If only he can take it more seriously in this. He didn’t seem to consider Kym as a part of the competition. He shouldn’t think about quitting so easily. Nothing much to say about his dance. He’s better than Tucker, but just better than Tucker (who, if you still remember, gave an awful performance and enjoyed every bit of it.)

Finally. All done.

lovely song

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Disappointment.

2006/07 的 TV Lineup 持續精簡中，詳情請見這裡，我有不斷更新。

這一季我決定不讓電視左右我的日程 (所以現在有兩台錄影機+一張電視卡 <-我真是太誇張了)，不怎麼令人興奮的新劇，走下坡的舊劇都被我毫不手軟地砍掉。生活過得平衡還是很重要，電視電影音樂(音樂劇/音樂會/演唱會)品酒美食出遊閱讀運動(!)的佔的時間比例應該要規劃好。尤其最近又多了足球賽看，姑且將它歸在電視一類，如此一來，捨棄食之無味的影集是勢在必行。 目前看的影集已經有六齣了... (這數字只會增不會減啊, 唯一的可能是 GA 的第三季走下坡) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip / Medium (mid season), Gilmore Girls, Dancing with the Stars, House, M.D., Boston Legal ,Grey’s Anatomy 今天決定把 Spy Dad 的 Justice 砍掉，比起 Justice, 我還比較喜歡上季被腰斬的 In Justice。 Tim Daly 的 The Nine, 只要不太難看，我應該都會跟。沒辦法，我太愛 Tim Daly 了。但是與其看題材聽起來我就興趣缺缺的 The Nine, 我還寧願他們還我 Eyes。 新劇還有 Heroes, Shark, 6 Degree...等，我又期待他們好看，又希望他們不好看。心情複雜。

New ABC drama, adapted from Yo soy Betty, la fea (I’m Betty, the ugly one), one of the most famous telenovelas (soap operas) from Colombia.

Saw it on ABC sneak peak last night. The fragment they showed reminded me a lot of The Devil Wears Prada: a seemingly unattractive girl who doesn’t have a sense of fashion dreams of working in the fashion world; first day of work, people marked “Are you here for the Before/After shoot?”; Claimed hard working and intelligent, still somehow manage to be clumsy. It seems to me that they took a lot directly from the movie/novel.

Anyways, not gonna watch it.

House personality Test

My result
Dr. Gregory House
65% Eccentricity, 55% Confidence, 20% Kindness

What’s Your Personality Cluster?

Your Personality Cluster is Extraverted Thinking
You are:

Organized and logical – a master at puzzles
Competitive in almost any arena of life
Objective when necessary, but passionate about what you truly love
Intolerant of excuses and incompetence

Pretty true

65% New York City
65% Philadelphia
60% Chicago
60% Washington, DC
50% Miami

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

I thought my top result would be Seattle. Guess I have wrong impression about Seattle, oops. It seems that there’s not really an American city that suits me well, alas. However, the quiz gave me the oppertunity to review my priorities when it comes to living environment (as if I have a choice!)
Must-haves:
Four seasons, good theatre district, garden, museum; clean air, low crime area, large variety of restaurants, jobs,

Not at all necessary:
diverse ethnic group, ski resort & beach, colleges/universities, low taxes area, bars, fitness

Hard to choose:
Public transportantion or drive
Apartment or house

Dancing with the Stars season premiere 跟 House, 我還是選擇了 House (應其他觀眾要求)。看完 House 就順理成章地看了 Standoff。 Standoff 實在不怎麼樣，讓人提不太起勁來看。看來 Standoff 應該可以提早掰掰，不然實在太對不起那些被 FOX 腰斬的好節目了 (ex. Firefly, John Doe…等。) Standoff 結束後，順手轉回 ABC 看到最後在報各組的得分，緊接著是 ABC 新 drama Men in Trees。

雖然聽說 Men in Trees 的 pilot 普遍獲得不是很好的評價，但我真的被它的開頭吸引住。
Marin Frist 是個剛發現自己未婚夫劈腿的 relationship coach，這個事實讓她對她一直深信不疑的事開始產生懷疑，她究竟了不了解男人。因緣際會之下她來到 Alaska，一個男女比例 10:1 的世外桃園。原本迫切想逃離那裡回到文明世界的她，最後決定留下來好好研究男人。

Pilot 整體還算流暢，有趣，我很喜歡。但是，它沒有激起我想要繼續看之後如何發展的興趣，我不介意再看一次 pilot，但是不會想知道她之後在 Alaska 的生活。

ps. 風景超棒倒是真的。

Chelsea 2-0 Werder Breman
* Ballack had his first goal in Blue!!

The first half was OK. Essien goaled surprisingly. The second half was horrid. Breman was pressing all the time. Thank goodness for the gate. LP lacked just a little bit of luck, and went wild after Ballack’s penalty, being shoved to the ground and the almost-there shot.

Barca 5-0 Levski
*well, out-shined us.

Liverpool 0-0
*shouldn’t have recoreded it. heard it’s a drag. (It was the only game that’s on standard cable…)

Galatasaray 0-0 Bordeaux
*what’s with group C?

I don’t really care about the others :p

Beautiful Story

*For a moment (after Mal fell), I thought something like “5 hours earlier” would come up on the screen. Guess I’m wrong.

(Oh my gosh, the computer speaks Cantonese… <-and I understood it!! XD )

I didn’t fall in love with Firefly at the first episode, but it’s getting harder to call it a night. However, I don’t have the luxury to take a day off for it, so I’ve better stop here.

These two episodes, dialogues were becoming more and more interesting. Though I still couldn’t figure out what kinda person Jayne is. He seems to be a mercenary sometimes, an idiot sometimes, a person with a heart sometimes. I guess either the writers didn’t agree on who he is or, he’s just like most of the people (I guess) with a little bit everything.

Again, about the Chinese part. The words, phrases they used actually meant something and they often used them in the middle of a sentence. If you dont understand what they’re saying, isn’t hard to follow? Though most of them were just minor things, I still like to grasp a full picture of every little detail.

* The Tam family (the young ones and their father) spoke pretty good Chinese, but their Chinese became irrecognizable after they grew up.

相信 Cech。

但說真的，除非確定，還是持保留態度與戒心比較好。世態炎涼。

關於家鄉關於政治, 什麼都不關心的我，似乎沒有立場多嘴什麼。
但不經意地看到熟悉的街道的照片，有點昏黃一點也不乾淨明亮，
甚至可以感覺到微雨悶濕的空氣，以及路上低低頭疾走的人…
然後忽然，無可自抑地非常想念了起來

那些稱不上令人愉快卻總是最親愛的地方

我看的第一場 Chelsea 比賽是今年歐冠小組賽在 Stamford Bridge 對 Barca 的那場，於是我知道 ESPN 會播歐冠。歐冠在下周將如火如荼地展開，我滿懷期待地跑去查 yahoo!TV，結果發現 Chelsea v Breman 時，ESPN 竟然決定播 Liverpoll v PSV Eindhoven，可惡!!!!

ESPN2 播 Livepool v PSV Eindhoven, 啟視播 Bayern Munchen – Spartak Moskau, Starsport 播 Barca v Levski Sofia, ppstream 的ESPN延到五點(ie. 下午兩點)播 Chelsea。太不公平了… 就是看不到 Chelsea 的比賽 ><