I did it!

It's only my first season at Bromley, and I've managed to get them promoted from Blue Square Bet South!

I finished second behind Ebbsfleet –– who was pretty much untouchable –– after an amazing unbeaten run at the end of the season. I was pretty much a low-mid table team for the first third or half of the season, and slowly climbed up the table. I earned my promotion through the playoffs, and beating Eastleigh in the final after extra time.

I actually didn't know how the promotion/relegation works all the way down the leagues; apparently, since Blue Square Bet has North/South, only 2 teams get promoted (champion and winner of playoffs). The next league up is the Blue Square Bet Premier; from which the bottom 4 teams are relegated, 2 to North and 2 to South. From Premier, there's League 2, and then League 1, Championship, and finally the Premier League. Current plan is to take Bromley all the way to the Premier League, maybe make them a decent mid/top table team there, and then take back my Manchester United.

Snubbed!

I am obviously biased, the fact that Justin is not nominated for any of the top awards is bullshit! Not saying that I know him or anything, but he released Part 2 on a Monday,  September 30th, instead of a Tuesday because that's the last date of eligibility for the Grammys; so I'm assuming he had that in mind. It's just my opinion, I know, but I thought Part 1 is a phenomenal album. "Mirrors" is definitely one of the best songs this year. Why aren't they up for the major awards? :( I just hope Justin wins all the awards he's nominated in (especially "Pusher Love Girl").

That's one gone...

I have no idea what Jose Mourinho is doing with the Manchester United that I left, but only 2 years later, 5-6 of my starters want to leave the club. Four of them have had their transfer list requests granted.

The first one to go? Justin Bennett.

It's even more difficult than I expected to stop myself from taking my United back. These are great players that deserve to start for Manchester United. Bennett, especially, got through United's youth system; made it into the first team at the age of 18/19; he...he should be a United player until he retires! :(

Happy birthday Giggsy!

My favorite United player turned 40 today, and still going strong on the pitch. He gave a solid, full 90 minute performance in midweek against Bayer Leverkusen, with an assist for Nani's goal at the end of the game. I wish you a very happy year, and hopefully a few more years in that United #11 jersey.

Farewell, Mark!

Today's Brazilian GP was Mark Webber's last race in Formula 1. The 37 year-old, oldest on the grid this season, decided that he's had enough and would move on to endurance racing with Porsche for next season. It's a shame that he never got to be a world's champion, he surely deserves one. But, thank you, Mark, for all the memories. You will be sorely missed in F1. I do love his bluntness; saying whatever he feels to the media, as opposed to the younger, PR-trained kids, who say what they're supposed to say. I respect that, and I love that.

I'm just happy that at his very last race, Webber was able to battle a few drivers for position, and win them, and ended up on the podium. He had to overtake Alonso twice, because of a pitstop issue that put Webber back behind Alonso after his first overtake. These two has had great battles, and that's one aspect of the sport that I would definitely miss. And taking off his gloves and helmet during the cool down lap was definitely an image to remember. I understand that it's very dangerous, but it really humanized the drivers.

A few highlights from today's events:

I would love to see Mark Webber at Old Trafford

Carrick had just extended his contract to 2015, which goes against United's (or it could have been Fergie's) policy of 1 year extensions for players over 30. Webber is about to race his final Formula 1 grand prix this Sunday, at the Interlagos circuit. It's quite exciting, since this is looking to be the first and only wet grand prix of the season. The only thing is, the United game at Cardiff City is on at the same time as the race! I can watch one on my iPad and the other on my iMac, but it would have been much better if they were one after the other.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing Mark Webber at Old Trafford in the near future, especially since I won't be seeing much of him out of F1.

Jimmy Fallon + Justin Timberlake = high expectations SNL episode

And Dec 21st: @jimmyfallon hosts w/ music from @jtimberlake!! #SNL #Christmas! #December #MoreLikeDUDEcember pic.twitter.com/M43kEUzgSH

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) November 21, 2013

I honestly can't wait. It'd be interesting to see which songs Justin perform. And even more interesting to see what sketches he'd appear in and if there will be any surprise guest appearances. I'm basically just excited for next month!

“@jimmyfallon: .@jtimberlake got any ideas? December 21st SNL” Do I?! Pshhh!! Ha! Man... No, not really.

— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) November 21, 2013

GQ's Man of the Year

Justin Timberlake is one of this year's Men of the Year, according to GQ (and I completely agree; he should be the man of every year). This means he appears on the cover of the magazine, accompanied by an article, and hopefully some more pictures from the photo shoot.

Congrats Chris Kirkpatrick!

Yesterday, Chris Kirkpatrick married his longtime girlfriend Karly Skladany in Orlando, FL. The *NSYNC members were on hand as ushers, as revealed by Lance Bass on his radio show Dirty Pop:

Send Newsletters to your fans from ReverbNation.com

The most intersting tidbit, though, is that the boys were wearing the cheapest rented tuxes from Men's Warehouse, because that's the Chris thing to do. Imagine Justin Timberlake, who has pretty much been suited up by Tom Ford all year long, with a cheap rented tux.

Anyways, congrats Chris!! :D

Update, Chris tweeted:

Great weekend with old friends and family! Happiest time of my life! #offthemarket

— Chris Kirkpatrick (@IamCKirkpatrick) November 4, 2013

Best wedding advice from JT, and then partied til 3 am singing with Joey and Karly, #cloudnine

— Chris Kirkpatrick (@IamCKirkpatrick) November 4, 2013

Wonder what the advice was.

Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

I pre-ordered a hard copy from Amazon, but it wouldn't be delivered until sometime in December. So, I was excited when my dad told me he got the eBook version that he could email me. I mean, I've paid for a copy; I just want it sooner.

Anyways, I started reading it on Sunday, and the first chapter is him recalling the events surrounding his retirement. It gave me chills reading that; thinking back to his retirement announcement, to his last game in May, almost made me cry. I love the bit about Ryan Giggs teasing that David Moyes had resigned after watching Sir Alex's last game in charge of United, in which a 5-2 lead was turned around to a 5-5 draw by West Ham.

I have yet to continue reading the book, and I am very excited about this. I find it strange that some people think that his book is unnecessarily offensive, when he's just being honest in his opinions. Isn't that what an autobiography is for? I wouldn't be interested if it was just another heavily edited, politically correct book. This is what makes Sir Alex interesting. So he doesn't rate some players as highly as most people; why is that wrong? And why is it wrong for him to express his opinion in his book? Whatever -- I'm just happy I have an interesting journey ahead of me.

We did okay, I think

I just finished my first season on my simmed FM12 game. I finished 2nd, behind Tottenham, only by goal difference. Yes, it brought back bad memories of the real 2012 season. Even worse, I lost it on the last game, playing Tottenham. 

It sucked, but I thought I did okay because this United had been a mid-table team. Seriously, 2nd isn't that bad, right? So the board's expectations at the beginning of the season was to get a Champions League spot. I raised the bar and said I would challenge for the title. Well, 2nd place on goal difference is challenging the title, isn't it? The board didn't think so. They were "disappointed" by our league performance. Whatever. I'm definitely going to win this season!

TKO

After pretty much a whole day of teasing, Justin released his second single from his upcoming album The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2, track #4 "TKO."

I am loving this song! It definitely feels a lot more like FutureSex/LoveSounds, agreeing with Justin's comments on Part 2 during interviews. He describes the second part of 20/20 as darker, and this song is definitely darker than Part 1. I'm very excited about the album; it's coming out in just 10 days!

Justin is performing at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas tomorrow. Just found out that it's available live from Yahoo! Music and PSN. So that's what I'm gonna be doing tonight and tomorrow night. I'm expecting him to perform "TKO," because he dropped the single right before this event. And then, on Tuesday the 24th, Justin will be performing new songs Jimmy Kimmel Live, after Sir Paul McCartney's performance the previous night. Hopefully this will be available online too. The day before the release, Sunday the 29th, Justin will headline the day of iTunes Festival, live streaming through iDevices and iTunes. So much excitements!

GEITF 2013 - In Conversation with Gary Neville

Very interesting insights from the man, both of his time as a player, and his time as a pundit. For those interested, his autobiography "Red" is also well worth the read.

This is much harder than I expected

In my last FM12 game, where I resigned as Man Utd manager, I decided to take the job of managing England national team for World Cup Qualifiers. I wanted to manage a lower league team, and since I had to add those leagues, I had to wait until the current season ended before those leagues were added to the game. That meant I had about half a season with nothing to do, so I thought why not.

I think I'm doing pretty well as England manager.


However, once the lower leagues had been added, I looked for an opening at a Blue Square Bet North/South club. I randomly picked a club, and it happened to be Bromley. I had pretty much no budget; wage budget £575 per week, and no transfer budget whatsoever.


Hopefully I'll get the hang of it by the end of the season, and start moving up the leagues soon. It's quite a learning curve, going from Manchester United arguably the best team in the world, with plenty of world class players, to a team with players hired on no contract.

My current plan is to take Bromley all the way up to the Premier League, and maybe play a season or two there, before taking United back, if possible. Or maybe by that time I'd be too attached to my Bromley players?

Yum

Ferguson's Formula

The Harvard Business Review did a study on Sir Alex Ferguson and how he maintained his success at the very top level. The case study was developed by professor Anita Elberse in 2012, and she recently had Sir Alex comment on her observations. It's a very nice read, definitely worth the time.

Under the cut, a nice summary by /u/weddywhat posted to the /r/soccer thread.

The 20/20 Experience -- 2 of 2

Apparently the track listing, and the tracks' running time, were (accidentally?) released on Sony's Germany site.

1. Gimme What I Don't Know (I Want) [5:15]
2. True Blood [9:31]
3. Cabaret feat. Drake [4:32]
4. TKO [7:04]
5. Take Back The Night [5:55]
6. Murder feat. Jay Z [5:07]
7. Drink You Away [5:31]
8. You Got It On [5:55]
9. Amnesia [7:04]
10. Only When I Walk Away [7:05]
11. Not A Bad Thing [11:28]

Evolution of End Zone Dancing

This is hilarious. I can't decide if it bothers me or if it's actually better that Jimmy didn't do the "Bye Bye Bye" dance exactly right. Even better news:

It's official! For the rest of September, we'll be doing #TimberlakeTuesdays with brand new @JTimberlake sketches each week! #LNJF

— Late Night (@LateNightJimmy) September 11, 2013

The afterglow

That brief *NSYNC reunion that happened over a week ago? It still brings me joy to this day. I still watch their performance regularly. I watch it so often that I now expect "Gone" when I hear the intro to "Pusher Love Girl."

Not only was the performance itself amazing, the aftermath was a great part. The guys did a few radio interviews within the next few days, and it felt like they were doing a media tour for a new album.

A quick rundown on the guys' radio tour: Lance cleared things up on his own radio show, SiriusXM's Dirty Pop Live. Chris called in to his friend's show, XL1067 Johnny's House. JC did quite a few, to talk about the reunion and to promote his girl group Girl Radical. Justin went on a whole day (or two?) of radio interviews, answering pretty much the same questions.

It totally happened!!

Last Tuesday, I woke up to my twitter timeline full of "rumors" of an *NSYNC reunion. It was rumored to happen during the MTV VMAs, when Justin Timberlake is supposed to win a special award. At first I thought it was funny, because they were mostly on *NSYNC fan sites, citing one source. As the week went by, and the event came closer, more and more entertainment "news" outlets were reporting it. No one from their camp denied it, and then they took the @NSYNC twitter handle (they previously had @realNSYNC as their "official" but unverified handle), and sent out a tweet:

Mic check, mic check one.. two... is this thing on?!
— *NSYNC (@NSYNC) August 24, 2013

That's when I started to believe. I mean, why bother with the Twitter thing if they're not doing anything. Yes, part of me thought they would tweet "LOL NOPE" during the VMAs, but it's very unlikely. Whoever leaked this story (I'm assuming MTV) did their job well; I had no idea that the VMAs was yesterday until this happened.

The night came, I recorded the show because I wouldn't want to have to go through the whole show; I just wanted to see Justin, and maybe *NSYNC. I skimmed through the show, and got super excited when Jimmy Fallon went on stage. I missed the reports that he was presenting Justin's award, but it had to be him, right?

When they said Justin Timberlake was scheduled to perform, I wasn't expecting a ~15 minutes set! I've watched his performance a few times, but I still can't name all the songs he did in his medley. He started the show with "Take Back the Night" and he brought life to the event, turned it into a dance party. He did a little dance break in the middle of his set, and then the intro to "Pusher Love Girl" started while he walked to a different stage in the arena. He had been moving around the stages, involving all sides of the audience. As he reached the stage, four men were lifted from under the stage, and there they were. Justin noted "you asked for it" while joining his former bandmates. And then this happened:

I really wished they got the audio right. They sang the hook from "Gone" and I didn't even hear it the first time around. Then during "Girlfriend" JC had to almost scream his part of the verse. It was short, but it was definitely sweet. It's nice to see that a decade later, Lance is still the worst dancer in the group. The guys were lowered into the stage, left the way they came. Justin closed the performance with "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors" before receiving his award from Fallon. He thanked his manager, his folks, and shared the award with *NSYNC (although he'd like to keep it in his house).

JC called in Ryan Seacrest's radio show earlier today to talk about the performance. He said that Justin was the one who called a few days (!) earlier and said that he's getting this award, and since their career started on MTV, he asked if the group wanted to do a little something to commemorate that part of his career. And JC said that if your friend called, you wanna be there for him, and that's why they did it. I just love these guys so much. Still. I think the call and when the rumor started happened pretty much around the same time. Great PR from MTV.

And throughout the night, my Twitter and Tumblr basically exploded with *NSYNC stuff.

After the jump, a bunch of stolen pictures, super short Tumblr GIFs, maybe even videos from the night.

It actually hurts a little

With all the news about FM14 coming out, I got excited in starting a new FM game, with a new challenge. My last game was actually also a new challenge, and it's going pretty well. But I wanted a new one. First, I tried Classic Mode on FM13 Demo, and I got about halfway through the season in second place to City.

This time, I thought, why not create another save for my first game, in which I'm doing very well in the 8.5 years I was there, and resign?

Swansea 1-4 Manchester United

A good, solid win for David Moyes' first Premier League game in charge of Manchester United. To be fair, Swansea played much better than the final scoreline indicates, but it shows why United are the reigning champions. Swansea had more possession and pretty much controlled the game for the first half hour, but United took their few chances and were solid throughout the match. Well done, Moyes! A tough few games ahead of us but I'm very excited!

Wizard World Chicago

It seems like I've been following Wizard World's tour lately; I went to the one in Philly, and then the one in New York, and I just came back from their Chicago con.

We decided to drive to Chicago, leaving on Thursday evening for our ~12 hour drive and arriving on Friday morning. I was exhausted, had only about 2 hours of uncomfortable, back-seat-of-the-van sleep in the past 24 hours. But I was there, and excitement trumped exhaustion.

Legends of the Summer

That. Was. Amazing!

It was ~2.5 hours of nonstop fun. The show opened with "Holy Grail," my favorite song off of Jay Z's new album. Coincidentally, the song I'm currently listening to while writing this post. I love Justin's vocals on the song; it's a great way to open the album, and it's a great way to open the show. I was interested in seeing what Justin and Jay Z would do in terms of collaboration, and I was happy to see the seamless interaction they had throughout the show. The only time I sat down was when Justin told us to, during "Until the End of Time."

The only tiny thing that wasn't awesome was that it was super hot that day. 90ºF+ and humid. So by the time we got to Yankee Stadium, we were already sweating like crazy. And it didn't help that it was packed in there. Still danced because how could you not?! That night, exhausted and sweaty, we had to go to the extremely stuffy subway station and rushed to Port Authority to catch the last bus back to New Jersey. We (barely) missed it, so we had to run to Penn Station and catch the last train back. My feet were hurting and I should have bought a drink, but damn that was a fun night!

Seriously though, this has been one of the best weekends ever! With Justin and Jay Z, and Moyes' first win as Manchester United manager, plus videos from SDCC, it's just awesome.

Just started a new FM12 game

This transfer window is just too much for me; we're being linked with pretty much all central midfielders out there and I can't handle it. So, as always, I revert back to my United safe place: Football Manager. This time, I simmed through until 2050, and then took over Manchester United. Stole this idea from /r/footballmanagergames. All players are now regens, and I don't know any of them. I welcome the challenge, even though I know I'm going to miss the amazing regens I've managed to acquire in my other save.

Football retirements

Gah -- this post has been in my "drafts" list for months!

May was such a roller coaster of emotions for me, and I assume United fans alike. After the exhilaration of winning the league, we were hit by Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement announcement, which was followed by Paul Scholes'. It's devastating enough to have these two legends leave the game -- even though it's probably the right time for them -- but it was a turmoil that most United fans have never been in before. And it didn't end there.

David Beckham

This is a huge deal for me, because he was pretty much the reason I became a football fan and a Manchester United fan. My brother used to watch the Italian Serie A, so I was sort of supporting Inter Milan when I was younger. That was until I was reading the sports section of the newspaper one day, and saw a picture of David Beckham. I honestly don't remember what year it was, but I'm pretty sure it was around 2001 or 2002; I was 11 years old and that's when I was reading the newspaper regularly.

I saw a picture of him, and I thought, "let's see what this guy does!" I watched the next Manchester United match shown on TV, and that was it for me. Beckham, along with Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Roy Keane were the bosses of midfield. Beckham was the guy who introduced me to United. He was the guy who made me love football.

There's always a part of me that hopes and believes that Beckham would spend a few months, or a season, back at United before he retires. But that's just for nostalgia's sake. I'm happy that he's had a great career after United. I honestly thought that PSG bought him just for shirt sales and publicity ploy, but he was given more games than I expected. He left United a legend, won the La Liga with Real Madrid, left LA Galaxy as MLS champions, and ended his career with yet another league win with PSG in the Ligue 1.

Thank you, Beckham, for introducing me to this wonderful sport!

Alexis Denisof joined Twitter!

Best part? Wife Alyson Hannigan's commentary. They're so adorable!

I just love the fact that Alexis is on Twitter, so I now can read tweets in his voice. It's wonderful.

Screenshot of their tweets (read from bottom to top) under the cut.

Tears4Piers

I love this; an amazing comeback.

A couple days ago, Piers Morgan sent a series of tweets:

So. I just received a package from Manchester United press office. 'Robin wanted you to have to this.'
The package contained a double sided framed photograph. Of Van Pursestrings kissing the Premier League trophy.

He tweeted two pictures, one of each side of the photograph:

"To #Tears4Piers,
Piersy my man.
Thank you for all your ongoing support and concerns!
You made this day even more special!
All the best,
Van Pursestrings"

"Great to be a champ
So many Tears4Piersy"

After a whole season of insults from Piers, RVP definitely deserved this. Piers Morgan took the joke well, though:

After all the grief I've given Van Pursestrings, he's allowed a whack back.I'll just have to take it on the chins.

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 24, 2013

Whichever way you split it, we win

It was just one of those mildly interesting stats post on Reddit, but I'm very happy with what they showed. The post was "How the Premier League would look in an Apertura / Clausura format," and it shows that Manchester United still tops both tables.

I kinda expected it, seeing as how we won this season by consistency. It's still nice to see. One of the comments in the post also has the Home vs. Away split; and we still top those tables! Love it!

PS - was gonna do a write up in Sir Alex Ferguson and United's season, and another one on David Beckham's retirement. Haven't had the time and I'm now on vacation. Hopefully I can do it when I get back.

Farewell, Ginger Prince!

There's so much going on at Manchester United this past week, but I think Paul Scholes deserves his own post. I wrote this back in 2011, when Scholes announced his retirement the first time. Unfortunately, we haven't seen much of Scholes on the pitch lately because he's struggling with a knee injury. On the last home game of the season against Swansea yesterday, Sir Alex Ferguson put Scholesy on the starting line up and gave him a chance to bow out of the game at Old Trafford. It also afforded the fans the opportunity to give one last standing ovation for the midfield maestro. It's been months since he last played a part in United's title winning campaign, and it really is a shame.

Welcome, David Moyes!

Manchester United has officially announced David Moyes as the club's next manager. Moyes signed a 6 year deal, which would start on July 1st. I'm glad that it's a long contract, because it shows the board's ambition and their trust towards Moyes.

Sir Alex Ferguson on his successor:

When we discussed the candidates that we felt had the right attributes we unanimously agreed on David Moyes. David is a man of great integrity with a strong work ethic. I've admired his work for a long time and approached him as far back as 1998 to discuss the position of Assistant Manager here. He was a young man then at the start of his career and has since gone on to do a magnificent job at Everton. There is no question he has all the qualities we expect of a manager at this Club.

Great quote from Sir Bobby Charlton:

We have secured a man who is committed to the long-term and will build teams for the future as well as now. Stability breeds success.

And here's what our new manager said:

It’s a great honour to be asked to be the next Manager of Manchester United. I am delighted that Sir Alex saw fit to recommend me for the job. I have great respect for everything he has done and for the Football Club.

I know how hard it will be to follow the best manager ever, but the opportunity to manage Manchester United isn't something that comes around very often and I’m really looking forward to taking up the post next season.

I have had a terrific job at Everton, with a tremendous chairman and Board of Directors and a great set of players. Between now and the end of the season, I will do everything in my power to make sure we finish as high as possible in the table.

Everton's fantastic fans have played a big part in making my years at Goodison so enjoyable and I thank them wholeheartedly for the support they have given me and the players. Everton will be close to me for the rest of my life.

I'm happy to know that Moyes was Sir Alex Ferguson's recommendation -- I had suspected this but it's nice to have confirmation --, and that it was fully backed by the board. I do believe that one of the main reasons Moyes was chosen is the fact that he's a long-serving manager at Everton, and that United is searching for stability. His appointment is also a risk, but one worth taking, in my opinion.

I'm also glad this was resolved quickly, because that strange feeling of insecurity not knowing who our manager is? Not great! Us United fans have been so freaking lucky that we don't have to deal with this for so many years. We're a spoiled bunch, that the question I have every season is just "what trophies are we going to win this time?" This time, a new era is starting and a new challenge is ahead of us. I'm really glad that the sadness and fear from yesterday have started to evolve into excitement with this announcement.

Here's to the exciting new era!

Sir Alex Ferguson retiring

I have no words. I'll edit this post when I've managed to gather my thoughts.

I went to my first JT show!

A flier they handed out to people in line.
Still not sure what the surprise was.

Apparently Justin signed a partnership deal with MasterCard; and as part of the partnership, MasterCard hosted a Justin Timberlake show for its cardholders at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC last night. I'm not a MasterCard customer so I had to call a friend who is and, lucky for me, is willing to accompany me to the show.

The ticket states that doors open at 7 pm and show starts at 8 pm. I planned on going at around 3 or 4, grab an early dinner, before lining up about an hour or so before the show starts. But, I started panicking because at around noon, I saw tweets about people who are already lining up, and that there were 20-30 people in front of them! The little fangirl inside of me was upset at myself for not being a bigger fan. But I decided to stick to my original fan, mostly because I didn't want to drag my friend -- who's not a big JT fangirl like I am -- to line up for hours.

2013 C2E2

I was in Chicago this past weekend for Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. I was a little disappointed by the guest list. I really need to start watching Walking Dead and Game of Thrones because those guys seem to be everywhere these days.

The only guests I kinda wanted to see were Felicia Day, Peter Davison, and Adam West. Adam West canceled. I've been to a Felicia Day panel at a different con, and I've met her at yet another con. Even though I'm a big Whovian and I think Peter Davison seems like an awesome guy, I've never seen any of the Doctor Who episodes he's in. So, I wasn't really looking forward to any of the panels either.

I ended up unable to attend neither Felicia Day's nor Peter Davison's panel because I didn't line up early enough to make it in. However, I did end up in a few interesting panels. There was one of "Star Wars Origami," in which we learned how to fold origami light sabers and Boba Fett helmet. There was also Comedy Mutant, a stand up show featuring Brian Posehn, Myq Kaplan and Mike Drucker -- I thought Myz Kaplan did a fantastic job; my favorite out of the three. And I also went to a panel "Writing for Comics" that actually helped me a lot in understanding how to write in general. I wanted to go to "Writing for Television" but that one was on the first time slot on Saturday, which meant that it was too early for me. I kinda regretted it a little, seeing how much I enjoyed the "Writing for Comics" panel.

Champions 20|13

Manchester United has secured their 13th premier league title last Monday, April 22nd, after defeating Aston Villa 3-0. Our number 20, Robin van Persie, scored a first half hat-trick that secured us our 20th top division title (yes, I know, this 20/20 thing has been played out but I just love it too much not to use it). Side note: It took me embarrassingly long to realize that the Twitter hashtag "#champions2013" means more than the year 2013.

The Aon Training Complex

It was recently announced that Manchester United and Aon have extended their relationship with an 8-year partnership deal. This deal includes, as written on manutd.com:

• New Carrington training ground named Aon Training Complex, a state-of-the-art facility focused on performance
• Training kit to carry the Aon name
• Aon to be Presenting Partner of Manchester United Tours
• Manchester United Business Network to work with Aon to enhance partnership themes of talent development, health, risk management, retirement and data & analytics through global programme

I don't know how I feel about this. I understand that this means a lot of money for the club, which is great and all, but I don't see how this benefits the fans. I know that United is a business, and the Glazers acquired it to make profit, but I just wish these huge deals would include a tiny reason for us fans to get behind it. I doubt that this would mean cheaper tickets or more money for transfers instead of just profit. And renaming Carrington? That wouldn't sit well with the fans. Although  from the wording, they might just mean that a new section of Carrington would be named the Aon Training Complex. Either way, I doubt any fan would start calling it anything but Carrington. In any case, I still stand by my position throughout this whole Glazer thing; as long as it doesn't negatively affect the team, I'm okay with it.

It was in the plans for years!

A couple weeks ago, Justin Timberlake was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for a whole week, dubbed "Justin Timberweek." During one of the shows, they performed this sketch:

And, earlier today, I came across this /r/LadyBoners post of the two of them, which pictures were taken from GQ's 2011 Men of the Year issue. Obviously, I had to go back and read the article again, and found this little info:

GQ: Let's talk about how you guys came up with "History of Rap," the most viral video in network late night history.

Jimmy Fallon: We were in your dressing room backstage on SNL.

Justin Timberlake: We were just shooting the shit, right?

Jimmy Fallon: You were coming on my show later that week, and I asked, "What do you want to do?" We both thought, well we could sing something. I wanted to do Toto's "Africa."We could sing that song really well together.

Justin Timberlake: We should still do it! We should do Toto's "Africa" but we should do it as characters.

Jimmy Fallon: I was thinking we'd do "Africa" as me and you at the age of thirteen. We'd be best friends and have a tape of us having a sleepover and singing "Africa." We can wear wigs and braces.

Justin Timberlake: We were sitting there, and I said, "Do you remember that guy who did the history of dance?" He did every song that had a dance or was named after a dance. It was a viral sensation. Then we just started kicking around medley ideas. Jimmy was like, "What if we did the whole history of all hip-hop and fit in as many songs as we can?"

Happy 20/20 Day!

Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" (part 1?) comes out today! It's been ~6.5 years since "FutureSex/LoveSounds" and, just like that, I'm right back to being a JT fangirl. I actually went to a Target store and purchased a physical copy of the album, because it offers 2 exclusive tracks. That was quite a strange experience. It's been a couple years since last I bought a physical album, let alone actually going to a store for it!

Anyways, I absolutely love the whole album. Can't say much about the two exclusive songs since I've only listened to it twice. They don't flow the same way as the rest of the album; which is probably why they're not in the album. They're also the two songs not written/produced by Timbaland and they have a totally different feel to them. Not saying that the rest of the album are the same songs, because they totally aren't. They're 10 completely different songs, but they just flow from one to the next flawlessly. I think I'm gonna stop right here because I don't know enough about music to actually review the album. But, I absolutely love listening to every single song. Since iTunes made it available to stream, I listen to the whole album at least once a day.

That was fucking bullshit

That was just heartbreaking. I am not only speechless, it feels like my brain is barely functioning. I can't focus on anything other than Nani's red card, and what could have been. We were playing so well up until that point. We weren't getting much of the ball –– Real Madrid had more possession, I believe –– and yet we were controlling the game. It's similar to how Real Madrid beat Barcelona twice last week. I honestly don't have the words to describe my feelings...

Even Mourinho said it was a "bullshit call" and that the "best team lost" (which, reluctantly, I respect). I try my best to not blame referees for our losses –– I know they do a difficult job –– but I just don't have it in me today. It's an insult to the game and the players that all talks are about the referee's bad call instead of the amazing players who worked their hardest. Lopez had an amazing game to keep United out, especially when Real was leading and backing off, giving United more chances. Of course Ronaldo had to score the winning goal. I still haven't decided if the fact that it was him made it better or worse.

I just want to say that the players, every one of them, did a fantastic job to get to this point. A match up with Real Madrid will always be tough. I would definitely accept losing against them if it was in different circumstances. The game, in general, was great. Both teams were very careful in the beginning and not connecting to their passes, but it was back and forth for most of the first half, with United creating better chances and looking more dangerous in attack. The midfield and defense managed to subdue Ronaldo. We scored early on in the second half, and it felt like everything was going to plan –– including leaving out Rooney. And then the red card happened and I was just furious. And the goals came and I think I was disappointed. And then I found myself holding back tears while staring blankly at my screen. This fucking sucks.

I miss you Papi

I was redditing at work and came across this video of Steve Jobs' funniest moments. I "watched" the video in the background while I went to the comments section on Reddit. There was a mention of how frail and thin Jobs looked at the end, and suddenly I found myself tearing up. It reminded me of my grandfather, who passed away in October 2009. He also looked frail and thin, and there were moments when I was actually scared of hugging him because I thought hugging him too tight might "break" him. Stupid, I know. Maybe I was just too scared of his illness. He was just so thin, so unlike him, and I think I just couldn't process that information.

i also remembered that I didn't cry when my mother called me to tell me that he was gone. I told Kim (by text message instead of phone call, idiotically) and she cried. I honestly thought there was something wrong with me. There were a few nights when I lay in bed unable to sleep, thinking that I would never be able to see him again. I don't think I actually "got" it until I went to his grave the next summer. He's gone; I would never be able to see him again; he never got the chance to see any of his grandchildren graduate college.

I don't know when it started, but now whenever I hear/read about cancer or Steve Jobs looking frail and thin, my mind goes straight to my memory of hugging Papi and feeling his bones, especially the sharp edges of his shoulders. I just remember that one hug, at home. I don't even know if it actually happened or if it's just my imagination, but it's always the same hug. I really miss you Papi!

JT is back!

I really love his newest single "Mirrors"

What a game!

Just beautiful

Can I start by saying how much I love the trend of quickly uploading GIFs of significant moments in the match? I highly appreciate everyone who's doing this, especially when I'm stuck at work while big matches such as this one is being played.

The anticipation of the match itself was enough to occupy my morning. Pretty much all I did up until lunch break was read articles on Manchester United and/or Real Madrid. One of them was on how Real Madrid helped rebuild Manchester United after the Munich air disaster, which is very touching and surprisingly I've never heard of before today.

Once the lineups were announced, I couldn't contain my excitement/nervousness/whatever it was that I felt. I liked Fergie's attacking team; at the same time very worried of Rafael having to contain Ronaldo. I thought Jones was probably tasked to shadow Ronaldo as he successfully did to Fellaini this past weekend.

Unfortunately, the referee made a few questionable decisions in the game. Two of United's yellow cards, to van Persie and Valencia, were soft and of Sergio Ramos' play-acting. I thought Evra was through on goal when Varane fouled him; that's at least a booking, possibly a red if he was the last defender. And he blew the freaking whistle when United has a corner to take! What.the.fuck?! I'm sure there are decisions that go against Real too but I'm a biased United fan so I forget those.

---

And now, the match highlights in GIF form:

And the record continues

Ryan Giggs opened the scoring to Manchester United's 2-0 win over Everton this morning. This is his first goal of the season, which keeps his streak of scoring in every Premier League season going. He has scored in 23 consecutive league seasons –– as long as I have lived –– 21 of them Premier League.

So, when do we get to have *Sir* Ryan Giggs in our lineup? Seriously.

Now we're 12 points clear with 12 games to go. Title number 20 is ours to lose, certainly, but the job's not done. Come on United!

My 2012

It was unmemorable, I think. I mean, it's definitely nothing compared to my previous year. The most significant thing is that this is the first calendar year that I didn't meet my family at all. I haven't been home to Indonesia since summer 2010 and my family was here summer 2011. I really, really miss them!

Entertainment wise, I thought it was a very Whedon year for me. Started with The Cabin in the Woods in April, The Avengers in May, and I also watched the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. It was also Firefly's 20th anniversary, and I attended their special panel/screening at NYCC.

I've started reading books again at the end of last year. I started with Richard Castle's Nikki Heat series, and  ended with Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. I am trying to read more -- I guess I can call it my new year's resolution -- and watch less TV/movies. I've started a movie/book list so I can keep track of how many I've watched and read, and see at the end of the year my watch/read ratio. I also want to write more. Hopefully I can continue posting to my blogs and to add to that, I might start writing book and movie reports for everything that I read and watch. Not sure how well that goes though since I'd probably end up not reading any books because I'd be too lazy to write the report.

In any case, looking forward to (hopefully) an exciting 2013!