Football and Videos

Over the last few days, many good things happened.

I witnessed with some satisfaction how Chelsea trounced Man Utd and took the this season's English Premier League title in the most appropriate fashion, i.e. by beating their biggest challenger.

To me, being a Man Utd anti-fan, that was a great result. But having said that, I do hope Chelsea does not totally dominate English football. That would be dull. I hope Liverpool can step up next. Doesn't seem likely however, but I'm still crossing my fingers.

In any kind of sporting event, I really don't like to see any single competitor dominate for long periods. Takes the fun and the edge out of the competition.

Anyway, it's been an interesting season of football everywhere.

For once, Spurs finished above Arsenal. That's very strange. In Scotland, Glasgow Celtic has the title wrapped up but the real surprise lies in second place. For once, it isn't Glasgow Rangers, but Hearts of Midlothian.

Reading and Sheffield Utd got promoted. Reading! And Preston North End qualified for playoffs. Imagine PNE in the Premier League!

In Spain, Osasuna are in the top 5. I read a whole bunch of other interesting football news, but I can't access them now. But no doubt this year's been great for football.

I know of some football fans who get very disturbed when the status quo of any league is challenged. You know, when a supposedly inferior team has a good run against the big guns. To me, that is the magic. And the romantic notion of a small team finishing high in a top league or winning a cup (think Wigan this season, Chievo Verona in the Serie A a few years back and Leicester City during the Martin O'Neill years) is so appealing to me. Certainly, it's more appealing than watching ManUre win year in year out and looking at Ryan Giggs smug face.

So the domestic seasons are closing, and next?

The ultimate show. I'll be supporting the underdogs again as usual. I'll be firmly behind Australia! Go Socceroos!! And of course, supporting England is like, compulsory for me and my friends. Seriously speaking, I hope they win it this time.

I hope Japan does well too, as well as the US and the new boys like Angola and Ivory Coast.

Football aside, I've had a good few days.

I finished downloaded Friends Season 3 yesterday. What a great season of Friends that one was. Janice, Frank Jr, Pete the rich guy, Ross and Rachel breaking up. Classic.

I don't follow it religiously, but I do like Friends.

And so, I've decided to go nuts and download all the episodes to keep. That's right, ten years worth of friends. 30Gbs of video. Luckily, I have many blank DVDs and a humongous but well kept hard drive.

I'm also contemplating downloading CSI now. I watched CSI and CSI:NY early this morning and I enjoyed it very much. Damn good show.

I'm doing a lot of video related work this week at home. I've found a decent DVD ripper and am ripping those Angel DVDs I borrowed. It's a slow process, but at least it's faster than downloading. I've done season 4 and going to do season 3 next. Anybody want the ripper software? It's a small file that can be easily emailed.

Last night Rin and I went to Sarawak Club to meet Velvetraven and her cousins, who are from Norway. Syuk and Jerome were also there. We had a good time. I kind of wished they stayed longer. At time of writing, one of them has gone home and the other two are preparing to leave.

It's always great to have foreign guests come over, especially in a non-touristy kind of way. The best way to absorb and understand a foreign culture is to do it in a non-touristy fashion I think. The tourist friendly part of travel is a little too sanitized sometimes, especially in this country. Not "real" enough.

And look at the calendar, it's May already. My birthday is fast approaching. I'm kind of nervous about that.

PS: I nearly forgot. I was reading NST just now and Suraya Al-Attas is fast becoming one of my favourite columnists. I find her opinions very similar to mine. Her latest column is great.