Has Jelena Jankovic Really lost it?

Remember when I said Jelena Jankovic should do relatively well in Miami, well she hasn't! Losing to Gisela Dulko in the third round. She blames her retreat of form due to her losing her trademark speed and reaction, known as a counter punch player she's got some counter but has lost her punch. Her record this year is quite appaling for a top 5 player like her, having a 9-5 record and not having made a final appearance since the start of the year. This score looks far worse when you consider the fact that she hasn't played any Top 10 player this year!
I remember when I absolutely dreaded seeing Jelena Jankovic in any draw as a year or two ago I believed her success to be solely from entering a lot of tournaments and scoring the ones she did well on, of course I would give her the thumbs up for stamina but should she have been a Top 5 player at that stage? I don't think so. But now I've developed to like her a bit more, in fact I saw her as a good addition to the Top echelons of the WTA tour, however that seems to be slowly changing. Remember when Jelena had her "off" season, where she lost match after match, well it seems she may be getting closer to that personal record. It's a shame that this is happening to her but now that I think of it I may have the touch of death! Just after I started liking Maria she suddenly loses all her form! And now Jelena has totally lost her form, not to mention Nicole Vaidisova one of my favourite players on the tour. So who's next! Serbia must have caught the "bad form" bug as Djokovic has been doing averagely recently and Ana Ivanovic was out of the top ages ago.
Well whilst I'm here lets all celebrate for Kim Clijsters return! Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport's return were somewhat of a dissapointment with Martina testing positive as a lying bitch! and Lindsay suffering from the baby syndrome. But hopefully Clijsters will not succumb to either. It's amazing how I like her now as before her retirement I was not keen on her and rudely labelled her a Shrek lookalike but now I'm all for her return, bringing back one of the best players in the past 5 years will definitely do more good than harm. Now if only Justine Henin returned; now that's a tour to watch out for!

ANTM Cycle 12

I've been reading around for the past hour or so and I'm totally shocked by how many predictions there are. I've read about photoshops of Tahlia to look like Allison, I've read about potential evictees in the next episode and I've read about every single person being a BITCH! Supposedly Aminat, Celia, Natalie, Teyona and Sandra are the major bitches and Allison and London follow suit! Well that leaves whingy Tahlia and cutesy Fo. There have also been lots of speculation on factions building up. Well here's my two cents.
From the preview it's obvious that Tahlia and Celia started a feud between the contestants. Aminat and Tahlia are likely to have stuck up for Tahlia whilst Natalie looks as if she stuck up for Celia (as Natalie has never liked Tahlia). As London is friends with Natalie I guess London also sticks up for Celia (sad though as I thought London would be less of a sheep). However I think once Aminat and Natalie have been set off there would be little need for the Celia/Tahlia mini battle and instead everything focuses on Natalie Vs. Aminat with London having a go as well.
Therefore for such drama to develop the main antagonists can't go! That leaves Allison, Fo and Sandra. Allison cannot and will not go, Tyra hasn't had enough of her yet. So basically next week will be a Fo/Sandra elimination - I hope it isn't Fo! Love Her, but it's obvious that Fo is seen as a filler as she's rarely seen and we've seen her on talk shows already - the winner doesn't normally get too much publicity before the show ends. Whilst Sandra was initially labelled as the bitch, but with the current situation she may not be needed anymore and as I don't believe Tyra will have three black girls abroad I think she'll leave in the next two episodes.

Allison - Tyra hasn't squeezed out the worth of this girl yet, she's still in love with those big eyes! Besides I really doubt the shot people are talking about is really a Tahlia photoshop. She'll make it into the Top 4 at least but I'm quite sure she won't win as she doesn't have the walk to impress the judges in the final runway.

Aminat - Originally I was skeptical on whether she would make it far but I believe the Natalie/Aminat feud will be the main focus for at least another 3 episodes. Aminat is one of those girls that we have to wary about as we haven't had a confirmation of her being in the Top 6 yet but from edits she does look like a Top 6 contender. Remember Analeigh (my favourite last cycle) who had no spoiler on her being in the Top 6 and in fact was scarily close to elimination early on but toughed out to make it into the Top 3.

Celia - I believe Celia will make it into the Top 6. She just has that vibe about her. The show loves her and she loves the show - perfect! She's getting a hell lot of screen time and development not to make the Top 4 at least as the producers wouldn't want to spend soooo much time on a lost cause. However I don't think she'll win simply because she's just too old for the business - I sense a Renee Cycle 8 kind of thing, "You Look tooo old! edit".

Fo - It's so sad as she looks like an imminent filler girl, though I don't want to shut her out totally I sense she'll be out in the next 3 episodes (basically before Top 6) as Tyra has been especially harsh on her. She hasn't had call outs to support her good photos so I think she'll be leaving soon as the producers also don't see her worth anymore as she doesn't seem like the confrontational type.

Natalie - Paulina has no love for her what so ever I believe but the show is Tyra's! It's evident Tyra still wants her around, she performs averagely but still gets a good call out. Unless she makes a 180 turn on things I doubt she'll win but I do think she'll stick around until the Top 6 as she has "bitch" value.

London - The producers are not focusing on her for a reason. She's had little to no coverage, these type of girls normally end up going out early in the Top 6. As Tyra can't possibly edit her as a "no personality" and London is still getting praise for her looks (and looks so amazing at panel!) I think she'll fit perfectly as a 5th placed girl.

Sandra - Her original value was to be an antagonist but as the Aminat/Natalie feud seems to be brewing up and supposedly Celia is also a bitch I believe Tyra would shove her out as they'll be too many bitches on the show. Though I do sense I could get her elimination totally wrong I think Sandra will at best make 4th place but more likely she'll leave before the Top 6.

Tahlia - Her recent first call out has put a spanner in the works, but I totally doubt that she'll make the Top 6. Unless Tyra has hidden her from everything in order to make her win a total shock (which I doubt) I don't think Tahlia has the market value to stay in this competition for much longer. Even if she does make it into the Top 6 I think she'll have the lacking confidence cut.

Teyona - Currently she looks like the perfect girl in the judges eyes. She's been getting good call outs and been universally praised by the judges. The producers also seem to be editing her as the "nice" girl so I believe a runner up is in the bag for her. She has the potential to be the winner but for some reason I doubt that.

This cycle everyone just has a personality that I can't see anyone losing out on the no-personality edit.

Order of Elimination (prediction)
9th: Sandra/Fo
8th: Sandra/Fo/Tahlia
7th: Sandra/Fo/Tahlia
6th: London/Natalie/Tahlia
5th: London/Natalie/Aminat
4th: Celia/Aminat/Natalie
3rd: Allison/Celia/Aminat
2nd: Teyona/Allison
1st: Aminat/Teyona/London!

Yep so basically I think Sandra, Fo and Tahlia are the girls who won't make the Top 6 as Sandra loses her commercial value, Fo looks like a filler and Tahlia eventually needs to go out as sob story girls don't normally make it far. Though I did put her as a potential 6th placer if need be but her scars will definitely effect her on a revealing photoshoot - where the photography may say "could you cover your scars!".
London and Natalie are my picks for girls who'll go out early in the Top 6. In fact I think London could even go before the Top 6 as I sense that Tyra wouldn't want 3 blondes making the Top 6 (Celia and Allison being the other two) though it does seem that Tyra is starting to like blonde girls more (weird considering that she dyed most of them blonde in the first place!).
Celia in my opinion is without a doubt going to place either 3rd or 4th - though I could be totally wrong as I was with Samantha last year.
The winner to me is shrouded in mystery! Personally I still don't see any of the girls being winners as of yet but the two girls that fit the most seem to be either Teyona or Aminat. Though I did put London in that mix as well! As I thought that if London could make it far enough (e.g. Top 4) she could go for broke.
Basically at the moment it's so confusing I think I'll need to see what happens next episode before I can lay down further predictions as currently I'm not too sure on anything.

Make Me A Supermodel Contestants: A brief update

Looks like Jonathan, my favourite contestant, did not win MMASM as he has a show card on the Nous Models website when the winner of MMASM would get a New York Model Management contract. Well it's only NYM's loss for not signing Jonathan as he is such a great model. At least Jonathan signed with Nous Models which also house Chad White, Eddie Tucker (also from the UK!), Billy Marquart (an ex Janice Dickinson Modelling Agency model) as well as Tyson Beckford himself. Though Nous isn't as prestigious as NYM it's still a good start.

Is Nicole Back?

As we all know Nicole Vaidisova is having her worst year since her debut on the WTA Tour but a glimmer of hope may have just presented itself. Currently she's playing in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open and has just beaten Alona Bondarenko 6-1,6-0. Ok she may have beaten the same player last week as well but she's definitely showing some signs of making a comeback to the Top 20. Her next opponent will be Svetlana Kuznetsova, though seeing her current form Nicole could come out with a win, though lets not hope for too much as she's already done well considering her recent form. If she beats Kuznetsova she'll face either Anastasiya Yakimova or Alisa Kleybanova, both of which are beatable. Lets just hope the dream continues for Nicole.

American Idol

Yeah I didn't post about Episode 2; cause I didn't watch it, there are just so many TV series that I need to watch that American idol has just not interested me enough. So sadly I will have to cease my personal updates of American Idol, I'll try to watch as many of the shows but tbh it's going to be difficult.

Make Me A Supermodel Season 2 Episode 4 Photos

Amanda

Branden


CJ


Colin

Gabriel


Jonathan


Jordan


Kerryn


Laury


Mountaha


Salome


Sandhurst


Shawn

ANTM Cycle 12 Episode 5 Photos

Allison

Aminat

Celia

Fo

Kortnie

London

Natalie

Sandra

Tahlia

Teyona

Make Me A Supermodel Season 2 Episode 4

I loved the idea of this shot and from the screen the shots looked good
Oh my god Kerryn is a molester! lol! haha
Shawn's shot scared me! He sounded like he was either in pain or something a bit more sinister!
I'm starting to dislike Jordan - she's a bitch! You aren't experienced enough to judge whether someone is good or bad as a model, you can voice you opinion but not judge. Even though Amanda could be annoying you can't say things like that.
Wow Montreal Fashion week must be easy to get into, not saying they are bad but all 4 got in when in the 3 previous weeks nobody was booked!
Nicole was so funny - "beautiful freak"!

Walks
Jordan - It was Ok, a bit weird as it didn't look freaky as much, but she did Ok - a bit flat though
Jonathan - It was weird but then when I got what he was doing it was actually quite good.
Colin - He wasn't freaky, he was scary!
CJ - she started off convincingly but then died.
Kerryn - I didn't like Kerryn's walk at all, her posing was Ok though.
Shawn - Awful, trying to be a punk when you're supposed to be freaky - I guess they could overlap!
Amanda - It was slightly all over the place, it was average
Gabriel - His makeup was scary! But he was boring! Did feel a bit Frankenstein though I guess.
Laury - Too much like dancing, it would be better if she stunted her movement a bit but it was ok.
Salome - Boring! She just walked out and then posed, though her poses were sometimes Ok sometimes BORING!
Branden - It wasn't all that to be honest (Ok but not fantastic as one of the judges seemed to think), it did seem a bit primitive though, which could be good
Mountaha - BORING! Not freaky at all.
Sandhurst - In fact he was a bit too freaky! Probably the best as it was exagerrated unlike most of the others who were damp.

Ranking the runway
Sandhurst
Jonathan
Laury
Jordan
Branden
Salome
CJ
Colin
Gabriel
Kerryn
Mountaha
Amanda
Shawn

Jonathan is actually quite short compared to the other guys.
I think these judges try to make models unhuman, that's my problem with them, there is nothing wrong with crying as long as you don't use it for your personal gain.
Shawn should go by far, he is totally not suited to this and being 30 and still not a model says something about his capability.
Nicole says thing as if she is having an orgasm sometimes.
This week Sandhurst may have just shown his weakness which seemed impossible a few episodes back.
Shawn actually looked creepy when talking to Nicole.

Photo
Laury - Wow love the pose, the face isn't as strong though but I do like the shot.
Jonathan - There is a strong connection between him and his reflection, maybe because of the fist. I love it, but it seems a bit too dark as the eyes look a bit like slits.
CJ - It's a good shot, she looks like she's an ordinary girl who feels somewhat lost/unconfident about herself.
Shawn - You'd think he'd have something stronger than this, this shot is lackluster.
Kerryn - I like the concept but I don't know about the emotion, the angle is also slightly bad, I've seen a better shot of her.
Gabriel - No emotion and unlike Jonathan's there is no connection even though he's touching the mirror.
Jordan - I like the twin kind of effect it has, I like it but I think her face could be stronger and the emotion more apparent.
Mountaha - This was a bad week for her, the pose is interesting but I'm not connected to the shot, it's ok.
Branden - I like the movement in the shot and he does look quite good in it. It does really convey as much emotion as I'd hope for though.
Amanda - There's definitely an emotion but I think her face is slightly too scrunched up. I don't really feel it as much as I should though. Don't get me wrong it's a good shot but I'd hoped for better.
Colin - It could have been darker, if so it would have been great. At least he looks Ok, but yeah lackluster.
Salome - the emotion is there but as with Amanda I think the face has gone a bit, it's an Ok shot but maybe the angles are wrong.
Sandhurst - He looks good but there is no emotion in this shot at all. It's just plain ordinary.

Ranking of photo
Jonathan
Laury
Branden
CJ
Amanda
Jordan
Salome
Kerryn
Mountaha
Sandhurst
Colin
Gabriel
Shawn

Overall opinion (best this week)
Jonathan
Laury
Branden
Sandhurst
Jordan
CJ
Salome
Amanda
Kerryn
Colin
Mountaha
Gabriel
Shawn

ANTM Cycle 12 Episode 5

Oh my god how slim has Tocarra become! She looks awesome though. Ooh I think Kortnie may probably go - and I'm only 2:30 minutes in. Yeah I do agree that Cycle 3 had more personalities than Cycle 12.
Benny Ninja looks scary!!!!!! eeeeeeeekkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!
Ok all of them were awful (maybe Celia and Aminat were OK), but I know I would have been bad if I tried.
Ok Kortnie has definitely gone, it's obvious.
Celia posing (even if it is spelt like posin) and Chosen don't rhyme!
Philippe Blonde disturbs me as he looks slightly (don't bash me) like Anya!
Allison's posing was Ok but boring.
Teyona had interesting poses
Kortnie was a bit boring
Sandra looked mad, her poses were too simple
Celia's poses were tranny, that's why Benny and the crowd loved it!
Aminat was Ok
London was ok but Marilyn Monroe like
Tahlia was boring
Natalie was interesting but not fantastic
Fo was good.
Celia definitely defeated Natalie to the pulp!
But honestly the thing is way too tranny but I guess it means you must be comfortable with your body.
Tahlia has very very very little self esteem - maybe even lower than mine! I understand why but if you're going to go on ANTM you need to have the confidence
No offence but "Cycle 11 winner" looks a bit big for a tall model - she looks exactly what she used to be like - a boxer!
I honestly didn't think I'd say this but London is not showing enough personality! Maybe it's just the cut but I'm afraid London may be the girl who eventually goes out even though she's quite good.
Ok Kortnie is just not a model, so sad... even Tahlia seems to be getting it.
I hate how they cut this episode as it's obvious Sandra and Kortnie will be bottom 2.

I actually like the use of a different type of camera as it makes the whole shot look more authentic.
Oh my god Tyra's english accent was fab!
In this shoot you definitely need to look at the camera as it needs to be somewhat haunting.
This year nobody seems to be dominating, it's scary!

Tahlia - Amazed but I guessed so
Teyona
Allison
Natalie - Wow so high even though the judges kind of ripped her apart (and I did too!)
London
Aminat
Celia
Fo
Sandra - Everyone is a bit too harsh on her
Kortnie

Wow Celia saying that about Tahlia was quite amazing. I think she's brave but she shouldn't have said it at that point.I still love Kortnie but it's so sad she wasn't to be.

I think the main aim of this shot should be to stand out in this shot, so whoever doesn't gets major down points.

Allison - Love her shot, it is soooo editorial, it works - she stands out in an instance. It's not a matter of whether she looks like the mum or the sister it's tha fact that she makes the shot fashionable, the only criticism is that I don't think she looks like an immigrant.
Aminat - The clothes made it difficult to see her body, her face is good though but I'm just seeing an Ok shot - nothing special.
Celia - Way way outstaged by the little girl standing up. Not good! What's worse is that she looks like their mother, she looks old in the shot!
Fo - I don't like this shot, it looks fake and her body looks weird. The only reason why Fo isn't below Celia is because she stands out.
Kortnie - I think it isn't an awful shot, she's just relying too much on her pretty. To be honest this is probably her best shot as well.
London - For once I actually don't like the pose, she looks pregnant in it! Personally I think you have to look at the camera for this shot to work so major negative points for not looking at the camera. However her face is haunting - besides the open mouth, looks like a toothless nanny.
Natalie - She looks like she's an evil mother, she didn't get the mood right, she's so bland! Her face looks a bit mucked up as well, it's not awful but it's boring.
Sandra - She looks really old from afar but yet again I think Sandra's shots are normally very cinematic, so credit for that.
Tahlia - I have to say she looks much better in this shot than any other, I like the latin fling about it but I don't seem to connect enough with the shot, it's one of the better ones but maybe because everyone did poorly.
Teyona - This is a fantastic shot, it's simple but it works. It does seem like somebody took it out of the record books. Fantastic.

Allison
Teyona
Tahlia
Aminat
Sandra
London
Kortnie
Natalie
Fo
Celia

At the moment nobody has always been in the Top 5 for the judges call out, but the closest girl to doing that is Teyona - as expected. If judges call out are to be trusted then Sandra/Aminat/Fo need to look out next week. I'm amazed that Tahlia is actually doing better than London in terms of call out!
For me Allison currently has the best score whilst Teyona, London and Fo are the next 3. And coincidentally they each have been the girl with the best photo in a particular week for me. Natalie is my bottom whilst Tahlia and Celia are next - yep Sandra is only 4th to last!

Favourites: Fo/Aminat/Allison/Teyona
Likes: Celia/London/ Kortnie (OUT)
Ok's: Sandra/Tahlia (Though annoying)
hmm....:Natalie

Believe it or not Natalie is currently my least liked girl, maybe because she seems a bit bitchy and isn't actually a good model. I don't dislike her she's just the one I like least.
Besides that there aren't many major changes besides being utterly annoyed with Tahlia for having no self esteem and flaunting that on camera whilst then do great at the photoshoot.

The Apprentice UK Season 5 Episode 1

What Sir Alan wants is someone like him, it's obvious - he likes the people who can work from nothing so it's obvious why the first task was to clean cars, however as Mona said you need to get the consumers happy so they come back for more, rather than trying to sell as much at once.

In the beginning I knew if the girls would lose then Anita would go out first, it was obvious as Sir Alan doesn't like her type.

Majid's joke about hiring her wife to wash his car was utter sexist - hate him!
On The Other hand Paula was funny - "can we wash people"!
Being the first project manager is always a stupid idea as you are at once putting yourself in the line - and then look stupid if you go first.

Interesting that both decided on car wash straight off. I don't see why you would want to do cars as it's time consuming and you don't get that much money, if they wanted their car cleaned well they would do it professionally, if you want it cheap then you would get a young teen.

Ok why the hell did the girls believe that they would pay £300 for 3 cars! And honestly Paula and Mona seem a bit stupid! They pay £20 for each cars for god sakes! Honestly the girls should have realized what they needed to do if washing cars.

Maybe I'm not a central London guy but I did not know that shoe shiners still existed - at least not on street ones. I think the shoe shine thing is a better idea as car cleaning takes a whole lot of time! At least you're getting quick income from shoe shining. Why not bike/window cleaner or something - quick fast money.

MAJID is a TOTAL sexist - hate him!
I personally think the boys team shouldn't really have won, the only reason why they won was because they secured one good deal whilst the girls were more intuitive and were only dragged down by the Debra/Anita/Kate/Lorraine establishment!

You really don't need a team leader for this type of task so personally I wouldn not hold the team leader at fault as the fact is YOU'RE JUST WASHING CARS - why do you need to consult someone about it - even a teenager gets it done. What the team leader should only need to do is delegate people for certain tasks, find companies to wash cars for, keep costs down and then get down and work.

Howard does look like an Emperor! I personally think he did well except for

18 cars for £20 pounds or something, that is not a great deal guys, shoe shining would have been better. £80 1 hour, low start up cost and loads of people.

Ignite £160.55
Empire £239

It was definitely a problem with the financing costs for the girl so I guess Anita was the one to blame and therefore should have left as she couldn't stand up for herself well enough compared to Debra.

It's so annoying why they continue to go on about project managing! Besides the start on deciding what to buy and where to go they was no need for project managing whilst on the job - just use your brain you stupid girl! A person that relies solely on a project manager should be sacked then and there.

Debra is such a two faced cow! She's just capable of talking and not capable of putting her hand in and working.

Personally £100 or £200 is not a good profit, let's say one week you get about £1000 - you have 7 or 8 guys working - in the end you've lost - you wouldn't make a thing! If you were earning £200 a day with only 3 workers then yeah that's good but not £200 with 7 or 8 guys.

Erm Anita, Margaret was a lawyer!

One episode isn't enough to determine who I like but I think I have some opinions of the contestants.

Ben Clarke - He could be good, he may get far but I doubt he'll win.
Debra Barr - she can talk the talk but I'm not convinced she can walk the walk
Howard Ebison - He reminds me of some actor, don't remember who though, anyway he's Ok but not fantastic with words.
James McQuillan - Seen to little of him
Kate Walsh - Not sure on her yet
Kimberly Davis - I think I'm liking her.
Lorraine Tighe - She seems nice but don't know about her business acumen as of yet
Majid Nagra - I hate sexist people! End of
Mona Lewis - She has confidence and she isn't that bad, need to see more though
Noorul Choudhury - I think he was in one scene throughout the whole episode!
Paula Jones - She reminds me of Jo, I didn't like Jo! But I think she'll be better.
Philip Taylor - His skin looks like it's going to fall off - too much frowning! Anyway I think he could be good but yet again need to see more.
Rocky Andrews - My initial favourite but now I'm not 100% sure, need to see more of him.
Yasmina Siadatan - She just looks like she has the confidence and intellect to do well, she also acts it as well so I think she'll do well, currently one of the ones I like.

Miss USA 2009

As I'm a pageant whore (oops should I say that!) I decided to post about Miss USA 2009 as they always do well in Miss Universe and there website is immaculate - easy to navigate. So here are my Top 15:

Top 5

Alternatives

Sony Ericsson Open

Yes, both the Williams sisters are in this tournament - that should make it a bit more predictable - I'd say you need a balance of shocks and predictable matches for a tournament to flow well.
Anyway Serena has two Chinese players Shuai Peng and Jie Zheng by her side as well as Alize Cornet - who lost in her first match at the BNP Paribas, if that is anything to go by Serena may have an easy road to the quaterfinals. She'll have Vera Zvonareva in her quarter to contend with. This could be a blessing or a curse, Vera could be hot off the heels from her victory last week or she could be so tired that she won't past the first week, could go either way as I doubt Vera has the strength or capability of winning back to back titles. Na Li and Nadia Petrova could be threats but both seem to be way past their prime. Jelena has Venus in her quarter, I doubt that Jelena will lost in the 2nd round again as Jelena is a fighter and she'll surely have had lots of rest since losing at BNP Paribas. Though I must say anyone in her draw could give her a shock if Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova could. Venus on the other hand may see Agnieszka Radwanska as I don't think there are that many threats in her draw.
Nicole is back in Alona Bondarenko's section - hopefully she will be able to emulate her victory from last week, if so she could face Svetlana Kuznetsova, who I believe is beatable even in Nicole's current form. I hate to say this but Marion Bartoli may be the biggest threat in this part of the draw. I think Elena will be like Jelena in that she'll get far in this tournament especially since I think her draw isn't all that difficult.
Ana Ivanovic and Dinara Safina fill up the last section. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Victoria Azarenka (both semifinalists last week) could meet each other in Round 2. Whilst Flavia Pennetta has Kateryna Bondareko and Amelie Mauresmo to watch out for.

I personally think it's pointless to try to predict the QF's anymore as there's always some shock player that suddenly breaks into form.

On the mens side all The Top 20 except for Nikolay Davydenko are playing again I doubt the winner will stray away from the Top 4 players; I just hope it won't be a Nadal back to back - as at the moment it seems like it's possible.
I'm not going to go into a analysis of the draw as I'm quite tired now and in fact I want to see what happens rather than try to predict it but two things I must say,
Hopefully Djokovic won't continue the losing streak against Tsonga as I want to see if he can beat Federer (unless they both go out before the semis). and
Roddick/ Tursunov/ Safin/ Monfils looks dreadful for me as I like all of them! Especially since Tommy Haas is also part of this section!

BNP Paribas Review

Ok lets start with the women's side. There were many shocks and unexpected results for the top seeds in this draw and these are a few of them.
Jelena Jankovic losing in the 2nd round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the semis
Elena Dementieva also losing in the 2nd round
Ana Ivanovic making the final! Does it mean she'll make a comeback! I doubt it.
Nicole Vaidisova making the third round - okay it's not really a shock but I wasn't expecting her going far, hopefully she'll improve from here.
Though not a shock I have to put this - Svetlana Kuznetsova losing in the 2nd round.
Na Li making the 4th round! YEAH
Flavia Pennetta losing to Ana Ivanovic - well I thought she would win!
Two unseeded players winning in the Cibulkova/Jankovic draw.

There were definitely many early shocks but once we were into the 2nd week things panned out steadily leaving Vera Zvonareva with the win.

Men's tennis has gone down the drain for me. Now that I think of it I prefer the Federer days as at least he had his weakness of clay, but Nadal currently seems to be overpowering everyone! On top of that Novak Djokovic seems to be slowly slipping down! I hope he doesn't drop to 4th.
Anyway here are the highlights and lowlights of the men's side.

Nalbandian almost beating Nadal
Isner beating both Gael Monfils and Marat Safin (mourning over their loss!)
Novak Djokovic losing 6-3,6-2 against Roddick (I love Roddick but come on Djokovic that isn't a good scoreline by any means!)
Djokovic having at least one 7 in the scoreline for the first 3 matches - which meant they were relatively close matches!
Ivan Ljubicic resurfacing from the dead!
Andy Murray beating Federer again - Federer is officially a dad - which equates to too old for tennis! lol
Federer having an even closer scoreline than Djokovic (cause I'd say they played players of somewhat equal ability). Hopefully that means two months later Nadal will be at the top, Murray and Djokovic fighting for second and Federer and Roddick fighting for 4th!!!!!!!
Lowlight!!!!!!! Nadal thrashing Murray in the final - that makes me feel awful as it means Nadal is so far ahead of everyone! Someone please resurrect Djokovic!

Natasha Richardson

Though I've only seen her in one film which was the Parent Trap, where she played her character really well, I was really sad to hear of her death especially the details of the death. But today when I was reading the daily mail online I found this article.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1163995/Liam-Neeson-Vanessa-Redgrave-share-tender-embrace-Natasha-Richardson-laid-rest.html

I know I'm probably going to get some bashing for this but honestly her sons don't look sad at all of the death! In fact both of them are smiling away, Ok I understand that you need to get over a tragedy like this but honestly smiling at a funeral! Do they even respect their mother - it's not even a "you should be happy after my death" smile it's a "I just saw something funny smile". Ok call me pedantic but I've been through this, my mum died when I was 10 and I was by no means smiling - I remember crying my eyes out and being speechless quite a while afterwards. I'm just in shock how they can be so calm.

Make Me A Supermodel Season 2 Episode 3

Does Gabe like anything! He hates anything remotely funny!

Anyway onto the photoshoot
Mountaha - A bit stiff but her expression is good
Salome - erm, what!
Shawn - same... erm what! no energy at all
Branden - He looks a bit too tense but I guess it's good for this type of shot
Colin - He looks more modelesque in this shot rather than sporty which I don't know whether is better or worse.
Lauryn - eww don't like the face
Amanda - I like her hand gesture her face is a bit rough though
Kerryn - Her face looks weird, a bit mad
Sandhurst - the face could be better but the pose is interesting, though the hand is bad.
Karen - Can't really see her
Jordan - Same can't really see her but good pose.
CJ - It was Ok, looked like she was running
Jonathan - Love it, not scrunchy ugly which a lot of them had.
Gabriel - he looks like the he-man!

Order of photos
Jonathan
Branden
Colin
Amanda
Sandhurst
Jordan
Mountaha
Gabriel
Karen
CJ
Laury
Salome
Kerryn
Shawn

Catwalk
Branden - A bit swingy but I thought the pose was good
Gabriel - A bit boring and no energy in the pose
CJ - A Bit too stiff and no energy.
Kerryn - Her walk was a bit weird and strippy but her face was fantastic and confidence great
Colin - Weird pose but OK walk
Laury - I loved it!
Mountaha - I liked it but not the end pose
Shawn - I liked the pose but the walk overall was ok
Jordan - It was ok liked the walk though
Karen - Scary face and a bit stiff
Jonathan - A bit manic but good
Salome - a bit weird.
Sandhurst - Not loving the pose.
Amanda - Hate the pose but the walk was Ok.

Ranking the catwalk
Laury
Branden
Mountaha
Sandhurst
Kerryn
Jordan
Shawn
Jonathan
Colin
Amanda
Salome
Gabriel
CJ
Karen

So overall this was the order I came up with...
Branden
Jonathan
Sandhurst
Colin
Mountaha
Laury
Jordan
Amanda
Kerryn
Gabriel
Shawn
CJ
Salome
Karen

So 3 episode in I'm loving Jonathan! Sandhurst will probably be my next favourite. Branden is a good contestant but I'm not sure about his personality yet. On the girls side Jordan and Mountaha I think are the strongest whilst I also like Salome (though this week she failed miserably)!

Countdown

Countdown is probably one of the most iconic shows on British TV, I remember how "nerdily" fun it was when I was a 10 year old and how I continued to enjoy it for many years. I loved the maths rounds but I always failed in the word rounds - just bad with words I guess! However the past few years I had gone off from this program and it wasn't until I heard a schoolmate of mine was on it that I decided to turn the TV on and watch it. Though I remembered that Carol Voderman had resigned I was in shock when I couldn't see her on the show at first. Watching the whole show I realised how much I dislike it now.
The attempt to modernize the show is ridiculous, the whole set looks bad. The original set though extremely old fashioned was iconic in my eyes as it had the essence of British mentality. The host - which I don't know the name of was equally awful. His voice was so annoying and his one liners were just wayyyy off - even on a show like Countdown! Nobody could replace Carol as she IS the queen of the numbers! Her replacement was by no means a replacement - it was a downsizing; as you can see her trying to keep up with the calculations rather than with Carol where she just drew them out of thin air.
Overall my experience of the new version of Countdown was a bad one The once iconic show has been destroyed!

Utada Hikaru - This Is The One

I really hope this is good, but the implications seem to be bad. Japan is normally in love with Utada but for some reason she only reached No.3 in the Oricon weekly charts having sold less than 100,000 copies (about 77,000). I was actually quite shocked to find that Utada hadn't had a No.1 single since Flavor of Life back in 2007 - I thought Prisoner of Love was a huge hit in Japan? Though I personally wasn't a huge fan of Prisoner of Love.

On and On - The beat started off quite well but then after a while it just got a bit annoying! It's an Ok track but I have to be honest half the time I didn't know what she was singing! She just merged with the music at times that I actually thought she was saying Japanese (correct me if I'm wrong cause she maybe speaking Japanese!)

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence FYI- The lyrics didn't make sense to me! what was with all the "MP3 MP3 MP3". The music should have made this song a must listen but the lyrics put me off this song tbh. One comment, hearing these two songs you'd think Utada wasn't the fluent one in English compared with BoA!

Apple and Cinnamon - The song is Ok but I slightly dissapointed as I really liked Come Back to Me and was anticipating a lot, maybe a bit too much! It's Ok, I like the vocals but the song is just Ok.

Taking My Money Back - The intro just sounded way to similar to many other songs I've heard. I like Apple and Cinnamon better. I'm really worried that this album is going the wrong direction - it's just sounding a bit too generic.

This One - This song is wayyy too generic but I actually like this! Weird ain't I! It's not the best thing I've heard of Utada but for some reason I like this more than the previous tracks. Now that I think of it the flaw in Utada's album (currently) is that the music is way too generic whilst for BoA's album the music was way to overpowering. If only the two just merged together someway maybe we could have heard something truly special.

Automatic Part II - I'm not really liking this song. It's a song that I wouldn't particularly chose to listen to unless it was in a album.

Dirty Desire - I don't really have a strong opinion on this track - I really don't want to use the B word (don't worry it's not THE B Word it's the B word for music which ends in ORED!).

Poppin' - Ok I hate this song! Everything was just wrong! Ok I'm ashamed to say I actually skipped this!

Come Back to Me - Finally! Something I know I like! Personally I think Utada tried to hard to emulate the formula of this song with many of her other tracks in this album, but this is just a simple song which works. It has a nice tune and allows us to hear what is Utada's signature; her voice. Yet again I emphasize the simplicity of this song is what makes it work much better than the other tracks - Ok let me come back to earth, it's not fantastic but it's definitely my favourite track of "This is The One".

Me Muero - I like how it is different but it's way too late for a song like this, you can see how Utada tried to experiment more with the last few tracks, I think this one works compared to her other experiments. I think this is probably the 2nd best track.

I was going to compare BoA and Utada's offerings but I realized that would be way too difficult as they are polar opposites. Personally I'm slightly dissapointed but I think BoA's may have more lasting appeal compared to Utada's even though I'm normally a fan of the more emotional/ relaxing beats. Sadly this wasn't the one for Utada (pun intended!). Lets just hope Jolin Tsai, Ayumi Hamasaki, Kay Tse and Joey Yung's next albums don't disappoint.

BoA - BoA (Self titled Debut English Album)

Wait before I go on about BoA's album just need to celebrate my 100th post and its only been 3 months! Blogging really isn't a passion of mine, writing my thoughts is why I continue this blog. I remember a year or two back I really wanted to just write down stuff e.g. my thoughts on the latest tennis scores, though I don't know why I wanted to! A blog was what I thought of first as it was an organized place to put all this randomness in! Some may find my writing utterly boring with hundreds of grammatical errors (like one of my friends always picks on me for) but this blog is more of a personal sentiment rather than a means to attract readers. However I do treasure every comment I receive because knowing that someone is interested in what you're interested in is always a plus point; even if it was someone totally dissing you - and I've had quite a few whilst continuing this blog!

Anyway I've babbled too much about me, lets talk about the actual music.

I Did It For Love - I'm not sure I like the trancey feeling of it but the chorus is actually weirdly addictive. Not 100% keen on it, the plus point is definitely the chorus and its pace.

Energetic - Comparatively Energetic just sounds way too robotic, I'm not sure BoA should being going solely down this route of music for her American debut as it really doesn't show any vocal prowess which I think she should show beforehand as the world is currently addicted to that type of music I think.

Did Ya - Yeah, something different - putting Energetic and I Did it For Love together was a bad idea. Oh my god her English is amazing in this track! I'm actually loving this song. I love the beat and the mix of genres - it's a good mix of what BoA is best at, good vocals, funky tunes and a dance beat.

Look Who's Talking - This song reminds me of the early Britney! Well I guess Britney did contribute to this. But I think the music world may have moved on since then; it's an interesting track but I'm not sure it was wise to use this as a promotional single. Just a note I really didn't like Britney's "Circus" so maybe some old Britney is a good thing!

Eat You Up - I remember hearing this for the first time and I was totally split on whether I liked this or not, a month on and I still have reservations. This song is definitely the one which BoA's accent is the most defined (as of know) and I don't know whether that is good or bad. Personally it sounds a bit too packed up and I'm not sure I love it. It has its audience but I'm not sure I'm one of them.

Obsessed - The difference I find with Asian artistes and American and English ones are that once an artist finds their niche market they stick with it normally but in the Asian market their are a few markets that the artistes always play around with giving a more diverse album but I see that BoA has focused on one genre for her American debut and that is dance. I do like her fast paced music but I have to confess my favourite BoA track is Winter Love (packed into her Best album) which is a slow ballad!
Wow! I didn't even write anything about the actual song!

Touched - Seeing my liking of Did Ya, also produced by Bloodshy and Avant I had high expectations for Touched. However I was slightly dissapointed, in fact I found this song the weirdest but in actual fact the most American! Besides the accent at times I think I lost BoA in all that music. Though I think this album is ok I think BoA seems to be hidden away in the music. Sadly I think the music might be owning her rather than the other way round!

Scream - I think I would have liked this track more if it wasn't lost in all the other dance music beats. In my opinion the album has too much similar tracks making it difficult to remember which is which. I do agree that the tracks each have a distinctive underlying sound to them but I know when I try to remember these songs in a day or two they'll all just merge together. Oh and by the way why is Scream being used so often as a track title. I'm sure in the past year I've heard 3+ songs titled Scream!

Girls on Top - Not my favourite BoA track in her repertoire but I'm happy to hear some of her previous works to compare and see if there is any difference compared to her American offerings. When I compare the two genres I really can hear the Korean flavour "Girls on Top" has compared to the music from the rest of her album.

Dress Off - There are just a bit too many synths in this track and yet again I feel BoA is slightly lost in the music.

Hypnotic Dancefloor - I find this track Ok but for a final track is this really what they want to leave the final impression as? But it definitely does have qualities of a final track.

Ok my first comment, as I always say normally my first opinion is different from what I think when I listen to the album a few more times but currently I think BoA's self titled debut English album is only Ok. If you're a dance track fan you may find some gems in this album but I like a bit more variety which is what this album lacks in my opinion. Their is just a bit too much synthesizing in this album in my opinion, I felt that a lot of the songs didn't have enough of a distinctive sound to them which made them all feel a bit merged. I believe I would have enjoyed the tracks much more if they were singles but listening to them all at once made it all just a bit overwhelming. One comment I have to make is the relative pace the album goes through, you really don't realise you're on the 7th or 8th track until you look at the track list - that could be a good or bad thing, I'll leave that to you. My favourite track is actually Did Ya - It sounds different enough to stand out from this album and it has the right mix of what I'm looking for in BoA. However as I have commented on a few of the songs I found that BoA seemed lost in the music a couple of times, the music seemed to dominate her voice which wasn't the idea I hope!

Make Me A Supermodel Season 2 Episode 2 Photos

Amanda

Branden

Chris

CJ

Colin

Gabriel

Jonathan

Jordan

Karen

Kerryn

Laury

Mountaha

Salome

Sandhurst

Shawn