Euro 2008 Final: Spain 1- Germany 0

Congratulations Spain for winning the 2008 European Championships, courtesy of a Fernando Torres goal. Germany's won too many trophies already !!

Euro 2008: Kickette-style

The peeps at Kickette sure do appreciate their footballers!!
Congrats to Spain for making it to the final. It would have been England for me if they'd qualified, the wankers.

Oh One More SYTYCD Post..

This routine is great!!! Thanks to whoever posted this on youtube.

SYTYCD Top 16

I don't normally watch a lot of summer television, but the couple of shows that I try not to miss are Hell's Kitchen (more on this later) and So You Think You Can Dance. I know, it's cheesy, but American Idol is so over, and besides, nobody watches American Idol past the audition stages anyways (you know, for the dreadful singing and the attitude). Besides, who isn't attracted to the ballroom, hip hop, contemporary routines dreamed up each week by SYTYCD's resident choreographers? I have two left feet (let me put it out there) and just watching the amazing dancers sort of fills this dancing void inside me. So I Think I Can't Dance.

This week the bottom three couples were Chelsea T. and Thayne (quickstep), Kourtni L. and Matt (contemporary) and Comfort and Chris (African jazz) and after their individual solos and judges' deliberation, Chelsea T and Chris were out. Apparently Chelsea's sizzling cha cha in the first week wasn't enough to keep her from elimination. Chris' contagious personality couldn't keep him safe either.

I'd like to see these couples in the final three:

1. Courtney and Gev: They are so good together and you can just tell that Gev has a little bit of a crush on Courtney, and for a breaker he's actually quite versatile. I forgot what they danced in the first week but they drew contemporary in the second week and the rumba last night (choreographed by Melanie LaPatin & Tony Meredith), and they danced the shit outta both!

Courtney & Gev...awww cute!!

2. Kherington and Twitch: Another sort of mismatched couple, he does hip-hop, she's contemporary. But they both have larger than life personalities, and don't take themselves too seriously. Last night they danced a hip hop number choreographed by Napoleon &Tabitha.

Prison break with Kherington & Twitch.

3: Katee and Joshua: I think they're the strongest of the three technically. The performed a so-so routine the first week, but blew up with a Broadway routine the second week, and a brilliant samba last night (choreographers Melanie LaPatin & Tony Meredith). I hope they'll be around for a while.

Hola!! Katee and Joshua do the samba.

Yea I don't normally gush about TV shows (If you ever see a post here about Grey's Anatomy or Desperate Housewives, just shoot me, 'mkay???) but SYTYCD is a fun show and like I said, cheesy. Although Jay did point out, "What's up with the British host and shit?"


Videos:

Sources:
tvsquad.com
fox.com
youtube.com

Oldie But A Goodie

Helen Mirren is one of my favorite actors, ever since I saw her as the flawed but brilliant Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison in one of the Prime Suspect series. Born Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov in West London, Mirren was already an accomplished stage actor and a household name in Britain before most Americans were introduced to her as the long-suffering housekeeper Mrs. Wilson in Robert Altman's whodunit Gosford Park.

Mirren as Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect

Gosford Park (incidentally one of my favorite films ever) garnered her a Best Supporting Actress nomination, one of a veritable slew of accolades which include 4 SAG Awards, 4 BAFTAs, 4 Golden Globes, 4 Emmys, culminating in the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in The Queen.

As housekeeper Mrs. Wilson in Gosford Park.

From housekeeper to Queen.

At the end of a triumphant year of awards, Helen also collected a 2007 Emmy Television award as Best Actress in a Mini-Series for her performance as alcoholic Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect: The Final Act.

I love her sense of style, the gown that she wore to the 2008 Oscars suited her perfectly, it wasn't flashy or revealing, in fact she looked regal.

"Knighting" Daniel Day-Lewis with his Best Actor Oscar.

Little-known fact: The Mars Volta have a song called "Ilyena" that is named after Mirren. Mars Volta singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler has stated an affinity for the actor.




In December 2003 she was invested as a Dame Commander of the British Empire. Her autobiography was published in 2007 titled "In The Frame: My Life In Words And Pictures".

Sources:

wikipedia.com
helenmirren.com
exposay.com
sexualityinart.wordpress.com

Nice Pic..

I really dislike Posh Spice, but I have to admit, this photo of her by Bryan Adams is great. (Click on photo to enlarge, it looks better too).



*Taken from Kickette.com.

Pah

We have about 48,000 items to delete from our computer. It's gonna take forever.

Movie Capital Of The World?

As I was walking home from thrifting today, I saw a gang of trailers and trucks parked down the street by my building. Someone's filming in Pilsen again. We've had a couple of movies shot right here in Pilsen although I had never found out which films were being shot. The real estate office down the block was boarded up again (it was boarded up for a movie recently) and there were a few posters tacked up on the boards with slogans and depictions of worker's unions and patriotism. Pretty cool!! Parked right outside the old-timey pool hall was a Model T, which also was very cool. They were probably in there shooting a scene. Some guys were walking past talking about Johnny Depp, so as soon as I got home I started Googling...and guess what, he's currently filming a Depression-Era gangster movie called "Public Enemies" and playing John Dillinger himself!! Pretty cool huh!! Although I did not see Depp himself in the flesh.

Pool Hall down the street from my building. Notice the vintage car.

There's a movie coming up soon that was shot in Chicago...The Dark Knight Returns!! I was so proud when Batman Begins came out and I recognized the skyline and the various bridge scenes...Chicago rules!!!!


Edit: Yup, Public Enemies is filming in Chicago and Wisconsin....cool!! Also starring: Batman himself..Christian Bale..(drool).

Depp and Bale

Johnny Depp filming Public Enemies.

Aaargh It Hurts Like Hell (But Trying To Be Bad-Ass)

Just got back from getting my tattoo filled in. I sat about 2 hours for it. It's worse than getting the outline done, methinks. Still have one sitting to go. Why do I do this to myself? Because I love tattoos. I was reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton the whole time, pretty engrossing. It kinda made the pain fade away, just a little, reading about people like Oedipus, who had issues. And Hamilton made Zeus and Hera sound like a really dysfunctional couple!!



Will post pics when the whole thing is complete, like 3 weeks from now.

PS Bad-ass is so replacing douchebag as my most frequently-used word.

H & M Fall 2008 Sneak Peek

These are my favorite looks of the collection.

We Like Stuff On The Walls..And Other Places

Our first apartment when we moved to Chicago about six years ago was dreadfully small and we didn't quite like the layout. A couple of years later we scored a bigger apartment in the same building, with a better layout, plenty of windows and a lot more sunlight, which overlooks the roof of the next apartment building, which suits me just fine, as I hate the thought of the neighbors looking out their windows and seeing me walk around the flat in just my skivvies. Although I would love a balcony, a fire escape isn't too bad and substitutes as a tiny balcony (I'd have put potted plants on it to brighten the damn thing if they weren't deemed a safety violation..pah).

Over the years Jay and I accumulated "stuff" which can only be described as either "collectible" - toy collection etc., "antique" - e.g. vintage typewriter, vintage gumball machine, "art" - work of various admired artists, "literature" - duh, and "junk" - pretty much, eh, 40% of everything else. We suffer from what is described as "organized mess" but we pretty much know exactly where almost everything is. I love our flat; as they say, home is where the heart is. Too true. No matter what Jay and I do or where we go, at the end of the day, we're always glad to come home to our flat in Pilsen.

As usual, click photo to enlarge.

Our north-facing wall is decorated with various posters and artwork.

These antlers guard the entrance to the kitchen.

Skateboard art.

We need another bookcase! Yet more artwork.

Wall Of Fam..geddit? Family photos..hahha man, I'm good.

Jay found this Tonka truck, our vintage gumball machine (it still takes pennies and works perfectly!), picnic baskets.

Pretty little birdhouse attracts not birds, but a rat, an echidna, a frog and a tortoise.

And This Is Why Kickette Rools...

Props to whoever mantains this site....
Eye Candy

Surreptitious Scritching...

Aaargh this tattoo is itching soooo badly!!!!!

Body Adornments and Breakfast Food

On Monday I finally got tattooed after a couple of false starts. I got Josh "Blurbiss" Howard from Chicago Tattooing Co. to tattoo me. He'd also tattooed Jay a couple of times and I liked his stuff so much I got a him to design me an orchid, two dragonflies and some ivy to go on my left arm. I daresay it looked pretty good!! It wasn't as painful as I'd expected, actually I didn't know what to expect. It wasn't too bad though. Jay was there to lend moral support! After that we treated ourselves to breakfast food at the gay IHOP in Boystown....mannnn the stuffed french toast is to DIE for....






In two weeks I'm going back to get the colors filled in...can't wait!!!!