Michael*

She had been a backup R&B singer and is said to have been in the 'Cats' musical . I think they sing random genres for auditions to increase the likelihood of someone turning around. These are both different styles, but its interesting to see that she has different sides to her.

Sensual side...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXaJCNzKRDY

Playful side and working the stage

...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY3Z4jHa-44

I don't think I've had such a crush on a good singer since I saw Kimbra for the first time and at that time, I hadn't had such a crush on a talented artist since I saw Janelle Mone for the first time. All of which I needed since my Rihanna love has shamed me so .

Those new vids seem to be region-centric, unfortunately. Curse you geography! :persuazn:

Her music was never my cup of tea but back in about 2010, Rihanna was my idea of everything a modern pop star should be, at least image-wise. When singers try to inhabit a role I often find they overdo it, so I used to quite like the fact that she had that untouchable air about her and didn't try to emote too much (whether it was by design or simply through possessing a limited voice, I'm not sure). Now she's a bit like 'hey, I could be your girlfriend', which I find considerably less interesting, not to mention pretty much ten-a-penny in the pop game.

btw speaking of footballers and interviews, do you have any memorable quotes/favourite footballers who give the best/funniest/strangest interviews? I caught a re-run of one talk show with Błaszczykowski as a guest and Australia was brought up and the host asked if we (meaning Poland's national football team) ever played with Australia and he said yes and that we lost 2-1. The host was like 'we lost to kangaroos?' and Błaszczykowski said, smiling "Who haven't we lost to?" and it made me laugh so much which is pretty upsetting (the fact the team rarely ever wins and if so, it's with countries like Liechtenstein or San Marino) but I liked how he had sense of humour about it.

I liked when Balotelli said something about not showing too much happiness after scoring a goal, because it's not like a postman screams with joy with each delievered letter?

I bageuley remember Boruc talking about his profession and its boredom, that he goes training and comes back home and he doesn't do anything special and it's all boring. Cannot find that interview now, it was pretty old anyway, from around World Cup 2006... then again, what should one expect from a man who had a tattoo of a monkey sticking its anus ('made' from a bellybutton) on his stomach...

That's funny from Błaszczykowski, I like the Balotelli quote too.

I always think Zlatan Ibrahimovic is good value for a funny, interesting or absurd soundbite. Everyone should do themselves a favour and pick up a copy of his autobiography, it's absolutely hilarious, with 300 pages basically documenting his innate greatness and listing all the people he wants to kick into the middle of next week. Example quotes…

“Guardiola was staring at me and I lost it. I thought ‘there is my enemy, scratching his bald head!’. I was completely mad. I threw a box full of training gear across the room, it crashed to the floor and Pep said nothing, just put stuff back in the box. I’m not violent, but if I were Guardiola I would have been frightened.”

“Then Guardiola started his philosopher thing. I was barely listening. Why would I? It was advanced bullshit about blood, sweat and tears, that kind of stuff.”

(when asked what present he bought for his wife’s birthday) “Nothing, she already has the Zlatan.”

“We are looking for an apartment (in Paris). If we don’t find anything, then I’ll probably just buy the hotel.”

“I’m like Muhammed Ali. When he said he would knock someone out in the fourth round, he did it.”

Oh, and I almost forgot, Andrey Arshavin (of Arsenal & Russia) became a bit of a hero of mine a few years ago when he used to answer questions from fans on his official website. The results were often sensational...

ASK ANDREY

Hello Andrey! Please tell me, in your opinion, what is the most important thing for a footballer these days?

Arshavin: I think the most important thing is a head, not only for a footballer but for any person.

Hello Andrey, I’ve been playing football for a year now. All this time I played the field and now I begin to wonder maybe I should become a goalie. What would you recommend?

Arshavin: To think about it.

Hi, Andrey! I’ve got a question for you: I’ve seen TV reports about speed eating contests (for example, in Germany they eat hot dogs and wash them down with beer). Would you dare to speed-eat a lot of chocolate cakes?

Arshavin: I can afford to buy a lot of chocolate cakes and eat them calmly, without any fuss and contests at home.

I’m overweight. What shall I do?

Arshavin: Lose weight.

Hi, Andrey, I want to play like you.

Arshavin: Play then.

Andrey, in what order would you place the following animals: a tiger, a cow, a pig, a horse, a sheep?

Arshavin: A pig - it will always get the last place! A tiger, a cow, a horse, a sheep. And I’ll repeat that a pig is always the last one, because it is a pig.

Hi, Andrey! I would like to ask you if there are some moments you want to come back to the past for?

Arshavin: Yes.

I am 25 years old and still not married. My parents are very upset about this. But I don’t want to get married yet. What shall I do? (Sorry if this is off topic; just want to know your opinion)

Arshavin: I think I can help you.

Step 1: You need to find a scruffy heavy drinker.

Step 2: Once you’ve found him, try to persuade him to “marry” you. I think that for a small amount of money, he will agree to fulfill the role of your fiancé.

Final: Bring this guy home. Tell your parents he’ll live with you.

I think next time they will think better before forcing their opinion on you.

Lovely stuff.

And on a slightly different note, have you been watching any of the Wimbledon tennis this year? I read today that this year marks the first time a male player from Poland has reached a grand slam semi-final, with Jerzy Janowicz having won his quarter final match against another Pole, Lukas Kubot, yesterday. And of course, on the women’s side, you have Agnieszka Radwanska still going strong. With Serena unexpectedly losing to Sabine Lisicki the other day, I think she has a great chance of winning it all this year.

I missed most of it because of my vacation,I usually don't like any kinds of technology machines while vacationing[TV,mobile,lap],but I had a chance to follow the finals.Also wasn't in the mood to watch that known scenario,so I followed the expected results.Brazil won,Spain next,Italy third.Don't you think that it seems like this triangle is keeping making the final scenes in football compts these years,no signs of new faces,I gave up hope in France to make any big deal.Brazil and Spain are in no doubt so great,but Spain doesn't have so great history as a country in big compts,wonder if it's going to continue like Brazil or stop at certain time,aslo Italy though it's unlike Spain and has great history of winning,but I don't count on it a lot,it always fails to continue.

I know most times,people don't take this compt. seriously as other compts.Did the attitude really change this time?

Yes,right.

It was essentially a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup but I think as a competition, it's gradually gaining prestige, and the teams involved all seemed to genuinely want to win it. I really enjoyed it, it may have been the best football I've seen all year, and Italy's 4-3 win over Japan was probably one of the most thrilling games I've ever seen. 'Twas a great shame for such an excellent Japanese side to come away from the group stages without a single point.

Hope you enjoyed the vacation!

And of course, on the women’s side, you have Agnieszka Radwanska still going strong. With Serena unexpectedly losing to Sabine Lisicki the other day, I think she has a great chance of winning it all this year.

Famous last words.

Lovely stuff.

And on a slightly different note, have you been watching any of the Wimbledon tennis this year? I read today that this year marks the first time a male player from Poland has reached a grand slam semi-final, with Jerzy Janowicz having won his quarter final match against another Pole, Lukas Kubot, yesterday. And of course, on the women’s side, you have Agnieszka Radwanska still going strong. With Serena unexpectedly losing to Sabine Lisicki the other day, I think she has a great chance of winning it all this year.

Haha, thanks for these quotes! My favourite was Andrei's answer to the unmarried 25-year-old.

This year, no, I don't think so... I watched a bit of some tennis match with Viktoria Azarenka but the sounds she makes while playing quickly transform from funny to super annoying. And is she really dating that fool from the band who sang "Party Rock Anthem"? Can't believe I don't remember their name.

I try to catch tennis matches everytime I can but lately it would turn out that it's not Eurosport but some other tv channel I have no access to where they broadcast the event but then when I get to watch it I feel so dumb I still don't get some of the rules in the game.

I remember watching Agnieszka playing with Serena last year and Jerzy in a half finale, or was it a finale? in Paris.

Well Sabine has Polish parents so it's 'kinda' like Poland's day. Haha except not really because from what I've read, she doesn't identify with her parents' homeland as much as eg. Wozniacki or Kerber (who are good friends of Agnieszka)

As for Radwanska losing...

I hope Jerzy has a great career ahead of him, his parents sacrificed a lot but turns out they made 'good investment'

Hey Michael* rummaging thru anymore childhood toys as of late?

Haha, thanks for these quotes! My favourite was Andrei's answer to the unmarried 25-year-old.

This year, no, I don't think so... I watched a bit of some tennis match with Viktoria Azarenka but the sounds she makes while playing quickly transform from funny to super annoying. And is she really dating that fool from the band who sang "Party Rock Anthem"? Can't believe I don't remember their name.

I try to catch tennis matches everytime I can but lately it would turn out that it's not Eurosport but some other tv channel I have no access to where they broadcast the event but then when I get to watch it I feel so dumb I still don't get some of the rules in the game.

I remember watching Agnieszka playing with Serena last year and Jerzy in a half finale, or was it a finale? in Paris.

Well Sabine has Polish parents so it's 'kinda' like Poland's day. Haha except not really because from what I've read, she doesn't identify with her parents' homeland as much as eg. Wozniacki or Kerber (who are good friends of Agnieszka)

As for Radwanska losing...

I hope Jerzy has a great career ahead of him, his parents sacrificed a lot but turns out they made 'good investment'

 

I actually liked Azarenka better before she curbed that volcanic temperament of hers, though I’d imagine it’s very difficult to stay angry when you look up to the players’ box and see a guy with an afro wearing animal print pants.

Jerzy's style really reminds me of Pete Sampras, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he ended up winning a similar amount of major tournaments. When he serves, it's like 'crash, bang, wallop and you've lost'. I felt so sorry for Lisicki during today's final though, she was just completely overwhelmed by nerves until the back end of the second set, by which time it was too late to mount any sort of comeback. Do you think there's some sort of tension between Lisicki and Radwanska? It looks like a very frosty exchange in that picture.

It's funny, every time there's a major sporting event covered on British television or in the media, the hot topic of conversation is almost always 'what can we copy from other countries?'. In football, it's 'how can we adopt the Spanish/German/Brazilian methods?' and now, in tennis, what with there being so many Polish players currently doing so well, it's 'what are they doing in Poland that we're not?'. But apparently, the Polish national tennis association is run on a very tight budget and operates out of someone's bedroom, so I'm guessing the big secret is just having players that are actually good.

Hey Michael* rummaging thru anymore childhood toys as of late?

Not too much as of late, though I did recently fire up the old Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console for a quick trip down memory lane - hence the current retro game avatar kick. Yourself?

^ Ha sweet! Looks like you're at peak nostalgia at the moment I assume?
 
Well I had no such luck with the video games or childhood toys but enjoying a nice long 4th of July holiday weekend here. So of course that meant food, volleyball in the pool which was a bit on the insane side since people seem to want to drown each other for a hit Then of course came the fireworks show and night of drinking after
 
Just waiting for CERTAIN people to come back home so we can fire up the grill for another small BBQ here

 

Haha, thanks for these quotes! My favourite was Andrei's answer to the unmarried 25-year-old.

This year, no, I don't think so... I watched a bit of some tennis match with Viktoria Azarenka but the sounds she makes while playing quickly transform from funny to super annoying. And is she really dating that fool from the band who sang "Party Rock Anthem"? Can't believe I don't remember their name.

I try to catch tennis matches everytime I can but lately it would turn out that it's not Eurosport but some other tv channel I have no access to where they broadcast the event but then when I get to watch it I feel so dumb I still don't get some of the rules in the game.

I remember watching Agnieszka playing with Serena last year and Jerzy in a half finale, or was it a finale? in Paris.

Well Sabine has Polish parents so it's 'kinda' like Poland's day. Haha except not really because from what I've read, she doesn't identify with her parents' homeland as much as eg. Wozniacki or Kerber (who are good friends of Agnieszka)

As for Radwanska losing...

I hope Jerzy has a great career ahead of him, his parents sacrificed a lot but turns out they made 'good investment'

 

 

I actually liked Azarenka better before she curbed that volcanic temperament of hers, though I’d imagine it’s very difficult to stay angry when you look up to the players’ box and see a guy with an afro wearing animal print pants.

 

Jerzy's style really reminds me of Pete Sampras, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he ended up winning a similar amount of major tournaments. When he serves, it's like 'crash, bang, wallop and you've lost'. I felt so sorry for Lisicki during today's final though, she was just completely overwhelmed by nerves until the back end of the second set, by which time it was too late to mount any sort of comeback. Do you think there's some sort of tension between Lisicki and Radwanska? It looks like a very frosty exchange in that picture.

 

It's funny, every time there's a major sporting event covered on British television or in the media, the hot topic of conversation is almost always 'what can we copy from other countries?'. In football, it's 'how can we adopt the Spanish/German/Brazilian methods?' and now, in tennis, what with there being so many Polish players currently doing so well, it's 'what are they doing in Poland that we're not?'. But apparently, the Polish national tennis association is run on a very tight budget and operates out of someone's bedroom, so I'm guessing the big secret is just having players that are actually good.

 

I didn't get to watch the whole match between Janowicz and Murray I feel asleep but around the end of the second set? I'm not sure, about 2 hours in the game there was this string of lost points and I was like this is not going to end well, poor Jerzy but congrats to Murray, well deserved victory. And hello his girlfriend is such a chick! I also tried catching up Poland-USA in volleyball but it was so nerve-wracking so I watched tennis mostly. Although it wasn't so calm either!

Are you serious? That's interesting. Yes, sports, any sports really have very restricted budgets. I recall some famous people protested in an open letter to the Minister of Sport as she cut funding a few sport disciples. I'd say the situation with tennis players is good thanks to determined parents. Most of our tennis players had their fathers as their coaches or the parents thought very hard to get the best ones to train their children. Janowicz's parents had a few shops and they had to sell them all to have money for trainings. From what I've heard papa Radwanski sold the collection of paintings that the family owned (although I'm not 100% sure of this, I'd have to check; they had to make some financial sacrifices though) The only association that seems to have lots of money is obviously the football one but that doesn't translate for success in it... fortunately since Boniek is the head of this association for a few months now more money would be saved and invested better. Again, I'd have to check but a few weeks ago there was a piece on tv news that said that footballers from B-league in football weren't paid for a few months now which had to do with clubs' financial situation but not only. As for another screwed thing about financing football... this year ski jumpers were really successful. Many feared that since Adam Małysz retired there would be no success, as for many years it was 'Adam... Adam... and sometimes another Pole at around 20th position' but the team right now is really good. I am proud to say I'm one of those who never lost faith :') well anyway, this past season's things achieved by the ski jumping team coach were the bronze medal in World Championship, 3rd best ski jumper of the season (Kamil Stoch), first wins of other players and overall the best season for Poland's ski jumpers. And his monthly payment is 8.000 PLN while the current football coach gets 150.000 a month! And so far his biggest achievement is 5:0 in the match with San Marino. I know it's difficult to comapre this two but I guess what I was trying to show is that even the best season in any disciple won't ever be as profitable as football. Also, around the time of the Olympics it was reported that Great Britain's budget for cycling alone is bigger than the sum of money given by our government to every sport disciple.

^ Ha sweet! Looks like you're at peak nostalgia at the moment I assume?

 

Well I had no such luck with the video games or childhood toys but enjoying a nice long 4th of July holiday weekend here. So of course that meant food, volleyball in the pool which was a bit on the insane side since people seem to want to drown each other for a hit Then of course came the fireworks show and night of drinking after

 

Just waiting for CERTAIN people to come back home so we can fire up the grill for another small BBQ here

I'm certainly getting there, thinking of branching out into logos from old kids' TV shows at some point in the near future (he said, nerdily).

Sounds like a pretty enjoyable way to spend a weekend. The potentially fatal games of volleyball I can usually take or leave, but who doesn't love fireworks and barbecues? I myself have been taking advantage of the recent improved weather by getting back into cycling - pretty hard work after a gap of about five years.

 

I didn't get to watch the whole match between Janowicz and Murray I feel asleep but around the end of the second set? I'm not sure, about 2 hours in the game there was this string of lost points and I was like this is not going to end well, poor Jerzy but congrats to Murray, well deserved victory. And hello his girlfriend is such a chick! I also tried catching up Poland-USA in volleyball but it was so nerve-wracking so I watched tennis mostly. Although it wasn't so calm either!

 

 

Are you serious? That's interesting. Yes, sports, any sports really have very restricted budgets. I recall some famous people protested in an open letter to the Minister of Sport as she cut funding a few sport disciples. I'd say the situation with tennis players is good thanks to determined parents. Most of our tennis players had their fathers as their coaches or the parents thought very hard to get the best ones to train their children. Janowicz's parents had a few shops and they had to sell them all to have money for trainings. From what I've heard papa Radwanski sold the collection of paintings that the family owned (although I'm not 100% sure of this, I'd have to check; they had to make some financial sacrifices though) The only association that seems to have lots of money is obviously the football one but that doesn't translate for success in it... fortunately since Boniek is the head of this association for a few months now more money would be saved and invested better. Again, I'd have to check but a few weeks ago there was a piece on tv news that said that footballers from B-league in football weren't paid for a few months now which had to do with clubs' financial situation but not only. As for another screwed thing about financing football... this year ski jumpers were really successful. Many feared that since Adam Małysz retired there would be no success, as for many years it was 'Adam... Adam... and sometimes another Pole at around 20th position' but the team right now is really good. I am proud to say I'm one of those who never lost faith :') well anyway, this past season's things achieved by the ski jumping team coach were the bronze medal in World Championship, 3rd best ski jumper of the season (Kamil Stoch), first wins of other players and overall the best season for Poland's ski jumpers. And his monthly payment is 8.000 PLN while the current football coach gets 150.000 a month! And so far his biggest achievement is 5:0 in the match with San Marino. I know it's difficult to comapre this two but I guess what I was trying to show is that even the best season in any disciple won't ever be as profitable as football. Also, around the time of the Olympics it was reported that Great Britain's budget for cycling alone is bigger than the sum of money given by our government to every sport disciple.

 

Yeah, I understand his parents are both volleyball players of some repute, and they sold their sports shops in Lodz to help his junior career when he had his funding cut by the tennis association. I was reading recently that he was forced to drop to the lowest level of the tour, and had to pass up the chance of a first Grand Slam appearance in Australia because he couldn’t afford the plane ticket. But I’m sure by the time he retires, he’ll be able to buy and sell those shops about a thousand times over.

He seems to have something of a combustible nature though, the match with Murray ended up finishing quite late in the evening, and he started to get really pre-occupied by the fading light on court, which seemed to hinder him.

Hey Layla, what’s Monika Brodka up to these days? I really liked the song you posted in Don’s music thread last year.

Hey Layla, what’s Monika Brodka up to these days? I really liked the song you posted in Don’s music thread last year.

 

Glad you liked it She released another single after "Varsovie" but I don't think it was so good it was called "Dancing shoes" and it was really annoying, imo. After that I don't think she had anything newer. I'm pretty sure you also posted another song of hers in that thread? I'd have to check.

Hey Layla, what’s Monika Brodka up to these days? I really liked the song you posted in Don’s music thread last year.

Glad you liked it She released another single after "Varsovie" but I don't think it was so good it was called "Dancing shoes" and it was really annoying, imo. After that I don't think she had anything newer. I'm pretty sure you also posted another song of hers in that thread? I'd have to check.

Ah that’s right, I went digging through a few more songs afterwards (as I’m occasionally prone to doing ) and found another one I really liked the sound of - but if I remember correctly, it was quite a bit older than ‘Varsovie’. I’ll see if I can find it again and out of interest, I’ll check out ‘Dancing Shoes’ too. It’s a pity she’s not doing more stuff.

Have you by any chance ever seen this show called MI-5? A friend and I just saw a few episodes from the early seasons awhile ago and I was pretty hooked . It seems that it went on for more than ten seasons too.
 

I'm certainly getting there, thinking of branching out into logos from old kids' TV shows at some point in the near future (he said, nerdily).

 

Sounds like a pretty enjoyable way to spend a weekend. The potentially fatal games of volleyball I can usually take or leave, but who doesn't love fireworks and barbecues? I myself have been taking advantage of the recent improved weather by getting back into cycling - pretty hard work after a gap of about five years.

Sounds like the perfect idea! Maybe you can have the siggy slide upwards like those advert boards at a football arena surrounding the fields

Ah yes the weather, I've been hearing from others in the UK here on BZ about the surprisingly warm weather you are having at the moment. Soak it up while you can because, well, it's England And good luck with the cycling sir that is one strenuous work out on the legs

 

 

Hey Layla, what’s Monika Brodka up to these days? I really liked the song you posted in Don’s music thread last year.

Glad you liked it She released another single after "Varsovie" but I don't think it was so good it was called "Dancing shoes" and it was really annoying, imo. After that I don't think she had anything newer. I'm pretty sure you also posted another song of hers in that thread? I'd have to check.

 

 

Ah that’s right, I went digging through a few more songs afterwards (as I’m occasionally prone to doing ) and found another one I really liked the sound of - but if I remember correctly, it was quite a bit older than ‘Varsovie’. I’ll see if I can find it again and out of interest, I’ll check out ‘Dancing Shoes’ too. It’s a pity she’s not doing more stuff.

 

There's a reason why I didn't post that song it was all 'dancing shoes dancing shoes, dancing shoes oh ohhh dancing shoes dancing shoes dancing shoes oh' and I think that's pretty much it hmm I think she may be recording right now? Anyway, she's not promoting anything new but I know she had concerts this past spring.

And I know this image has been out for some time now but it makes me laugh everytime I see it

I wanted to respect her for her talent . J/k, I have no idea who that is .

^ tennis player, currently #4 at WTA list.