Assessing the initial Assessment...

LINK to initial Assessment HERE

As the season draws to a close, I’m left to reflect on another season of disappointment. Well, I did have a disclaimer about the predictions that it was done early days, so let’s just see how I fared.

Simple one to start - who will win the league?
I predicted Liverpool – they came close, but the worse bit of this prediction was that for Robbie Keane to make up an ultimate partnership with Torres. That role became Steven Gerrard’s and Robbie went back to Spurs without a whimper. Tough. Full marks to Liverpool though for taking the title challenge right down to the second last week of the season.

Which team will go down with Hull and Stoke?
How wrong was this? BOTH Hull and Stoke didn’t go down. The bottom three teams were just too poor to be in the Premier League for another year. Imagine, all the bottom teams needed a win on the last day but NONE of them got a win. The really bad news is that another team of Bolton’s mould has remained in the Premier League, in the form of Stoke City. It’s just another testament to Tony Pulis’s ability as manager – keeping the belief in the team and its fans. I heard somewhere that they have the noisiest fans in the country.

And will either of those two beat Derby's 'total'?
Surprisingly, the margin between the bottom and the seventh place team is much less that the margin between the champions and seventh place. For much of the season any teams below seventh were in danger of the possibility of relegation. This was true in the case of Hull. One of my predictions that were correct for this section was that Newcastle is NOT a big team anymore.

How many points will Liverpool finish behind the champions?
As with the first question, I assumed Liverpool would be the champions, so I didn’t really predict the points they would trail by. But its still watch to see them fight to the final 3 weeks of the season. Still 4 points behind Manure is not a bad achievement. It’s just the minor blips against smaller teams that became draws was their downfall. Now, if only Torres and Gerrard will be fit for the whole of next season.

First manager to go?
Paul Ince did get the boot eventually. But who would have guessed the number of managers to go? The debacle at Newcastle claimed 3 ‘managers’. The margins of winning and losing have become so huge that every manager (less Arsenal, Liverpool and Manure) was in danger of being the first to go. As much as it’s like playing Russian roulette.

Will Cristiano Ronaldo be that good again?
Well, 50/50 I would say for this prediction. True, he didn’t perform that well in the beginning of the season, he had a bit of a spoiled brat tantrum, but then again, how do you ever top last season’s performance? At the end of the day, he still finished top scorer. He’s been part of the team in dominated in all fronts for most of the season, so it’s not a BAD season at all.

Will Mark Hughes do a better job than Sven?
I was right on this one. Sven worked with a tighter budget (compared to the one that Mark Hughes has NOW) and yet managed to motivate his players to do the double over Manure and get into Europe. Mark just whinged about everything else. However, I reckon the Citeh board will stick with him for another season.

Which newcomer will have the biggest impact?
Well, wrong again here. However, if you look to Arsenals victory over the champions, it was Samir Nasri who shone brighter than the rest of the Arsenal team. Another Arsenal player deserves a mention here Arshavin – four goals. Nuff said.

And which one will flop horribly?
I supposed I was right here again… Jo did flop terribly in Man City, but he did turn up and do well for Everton when it mattered most. Shall we just come to the conclusion and agree that he did flop? (Originally)Who has the best chance of cracking the top four?Again, I was spot on for this prediction until back in April. Aston Villa have crumbled without the now retired Martin Laursen and they just ran out of steam after MON decided that fighting for a place in the top four was more important than Europe. Doesn’t look very sensible now does it?

Which transfer saga will be boring us all this time next year?
Surprise surprise, the fake Ronaldo is still with Manure and Didier Diver is still with Chelsea. A far more boring saga would be the never ending links of top players to a certain Man Citeh. Even if they don’t play in the Champions League. It’s all about the money.

What goes around comes around

The great British economy is slowly being brought to its knees by various commitments locally and internationally. From pensions to job seekers allowance, from asylum seekers to single parents, everyday the list becomes longer and the British government becomes poorer.

Not forgetting about the already widely known disease the 'recession' and its various military commitments in several war ravaged countries.

How did it all come to this?

Many Britons have come to hate the idea of foreigners taking up space and resources in the country, but wasn't it the powers behind the government showing its strength through its then unlimited resources once earned through imperialism, making other countries problems its own business?

Is this one big example of karma? A long time ago, British imperialism plundered many a country, raping it of its most exotic and precious resources. Are people from these various countries returning the favour in kind?

heart

When you love someone, you don’t have to see them all the time or have them by your side, only have them in your heart

The Art of Muses

Music plays a big part in our lives. Certain music brings back the nostalgic feelings of years gone by and defines the character during the times of growing up. It acts as inspiration, brings sense to dramas, tragedy, comedy, romance and just lifts us when we are down.

Growing up as a teenager in the 1990s, here is a list of some of the memorable acts/songs that have left a deep mark in my memories.

2 Live Crew – As Nasty as they want to be (1989)

As a budding teenager, this is the first group that have really made used of sexually explicit lyrics to make music. One of their popular singles - The F*ck Shop, left a deep impact in my mind. Of course, being a teenager at that time, it was cool to be able to rap the lyrics to impressed mates around school.

EMF – Unbelievable (1990)

Unbelievably good, this song became one of the anthems of the 1990s. With all the mystery in the initials and the lack of information now found through the World Wide Web, speculation on what E.M.F. really meant was one of the hot topics.

Guns and Roses – Use your Illusions (1991)

Metallica – Black Album (1991)

Nirvana - Smell's like Teen Spirit (1991)

1991 was a good year for music, producing legendary performances by Metallica, Nirvana and Guns and Roses. All three of the above mentioned albums have been so widely played that I can almost hum to any one their songs with ease. Funnily it was more to the mid 90s when I started listening to some of the more popular tunes like Enter Sandman, Smells like Teen Spirit and Estranged. It’s been almost 20 years since the emergence of these albums and the mid 90s has seen a duplication of many similar sounding bands, the alternative rock movement for example. Some of these successes will not be replicated and after such a long time, it may be better to let has beens remain as has beens, so please do us a favour Axl, don’t come back…

Beyond – 繼續革命 (1992)

This was before the unfortunate incident which left this quartet as a trio. Ever since Wong Ka Kui passed on, the band has never been the same. True, some remember one or two songs after Ka Kui’s passing, but you imagine most of the records sold were more of a sympathy purchase. Most of Beyond’s old songs are still largely popular with the Cantonese speaking world with Paul still lending a hand to the underground movements in Hong Kong. Legendary band, legendary songs and I still remember singing their undisputed most renown song during one of my friends wedding back in 2005. Stuff made for legends, ‘nuff said.

Radiohead – Creep (1993)

The lead singer still insist to date that he doesn’t particularly enjoy the success this song has garnered throughout the years, but it will stick to me as the song that opened my eyes to the Brit pop and alternative movement (again in the mid 90s). Of course, it also reminded me on the dreadfulness of piracy as for years I assumed that the name of the band singing this song was Pablo Honey. I got a recap of this song in Sydney while watching a Vietnamese movie starring HKs Tony Leung, Cyclo and it’s moved on to become of my favourite karaoke songs that I try to belt out (rather pathetically) after a couple of Johnnie’s.

Green Day – Dookie (1994)

One of the albums of my high school years, this dog shit was rather good shit. I used to think that Billy Joel started an extra band just to expand his already wide musical credentials.

Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory (1995)

I’d like to think of Oasis as the band that reconfirmed my belief in Brit pop. Although one or two of Blur’s songs are still rated highly in my book, Oasis stands up there next to the Beatles. Much of my college years were spent singing about Sally and how we should not put our life in the hands of a rock and roll band. Liam and Noel looked smug on the wall in my bedroom poster for a good couple of years.

Suede – Beautiful Ones (1996)

One of the songs that used to get the party going back in Sydney in the year 1999, its amazing how everyone used to thing they were beautiful. Yes, even us guys.

Ben Folds Five – Brick (1997)

This song brings back memories about time spent in a room during the Sydney years in Unilodge. Although the days spent in there were never as dark as the song, some of the experiences were. Still, I’ve got a copy of this single stuck somewhere back ‘home’. Thanks to the baughty noy.

Smashing Pumpkins – Adore (1998)

People still don’t believe it when I say I saw them in Sydney back in 98. Well, I did. And it was really good. Although not as good as I expected as they were touring to promote their new album Adore, so they didn’t get around singing more of that Mellon Collie stuff. Still, to see Billy in action with the rest of the crew was a once in the lifetime experience I’ll never forget.

Smash Mouth - All Star (1999)

One of the funny bands, Smash Mouth has never been one of my favourite bands, but the All Star song has always got a special place in my mind. For some reason memories of the Beach Club resurface – times when you’re young, dumb and time just stands still.

Effects of alcohol and the ensuing embarrassments

One day at the pub by New Cross, I was having a pint of Guinness with my mate CP when the topic of mutants came about.

We were talking about the latest Wolverine movie and how the mutant genre in movies evolved from the early 80s till now.

"Hey do you remember that series done in the 80s about a group of people with mutant like powers?

I remember vaguely one of the members having the ability to run really fast, with a name not dissimilar with Johnny Blaze.

And the girls name was Gloria.

Do you remember the name of that show?" I asked.

CP had a huge frown, either from the weight of the alcohol or the searching for an answer in his brain.

"Not really. When you mentioned Gloria, I keep thinking of Estefan.

Any further clues?"

Just as we were about to proceed with this intense discussion, this beautiful lady pops over and taps my shoulder.

"Hi B! It's been a long time, how have you been?"

I've been quite known to remember a ridiculous amount of useless information from my past, but for the love of god, I just could not remember the name of this young lass.

She looked eagerly towards CP waiting to be introduced, as I blurted out some nonsense about the South of Spain, hoping to get some recollection about her and where I've met her.

Then CP introduced himself, sensing the uncomfortable environment I've turned this in because of my memory lapse.

Ah, Anita... She must have been a friend from my time in Kuala Lumpur.

We proceeded to head off home after paying the tab when Anita mentioned, smiling "By the way B, it was nice meeting you after our last trip to Greece together, you never did call"

To which I grabbed CP, "Misfits of Science!"

"What?"

"That's the name of that series!"

"Lame B, just lame...”