Faute! ~ Tennis in 2010 (Part 3)

The Men’s Quarters witnessed the defeat of a heat-drained 3^rd seed Novak Djokovic  against the austrian Jurgen Melzer. The biggest upset came in the form of the fall of Federer against Soderling taking him out in four. The semifinal match between Berdych & Soderling was a crackler each slugging it out till a 5^th set. Soderling got the better of the Czech & moved onto the finals once again. Nadal eventually won the crown  and did it flawlessly, without dropping a set throughout the tournament.

In the Women’s Quarters,4^th seed Serb & former world number one, Jelena Jankovic extracted her USO’09 revenge upon Kazakh Shvedova in straight sets. Injured Russians Dementieva & Petrova  duked it out to 3 sets despite the fact that each was badly injured & hurt with Dementieva beating her compatriot 6-0 in the 3^rd.The “shock upsets” were the defeat of World Number 1. Serena Williams & Dane Caroline Wozniacki. The dane seemed out of sorts in her match against Italian veteran, Francesca Schiavone, losing in straight sets, 6-2 6-3.The Williams-Stosur match was one of the most peculiar women’s match of the tournament. Stosur raced to a one set to love advantage with her kick-serve & crushing forehands against an error-prone Williams. Her serve was clearly not working for her & her movement was appalling. Just when Stosur was ready to wrap up the match in the second set, Williams came back saving match points & clinching the second set in a tiebreak, 7-2. With time running out for Stosur, she threw everything at Williams (except the kitchen sink!) but with her new-found confidence, Williams got back her rhythm & broke Stosur. The momentum of the match began to shift in favor of the world number one, but Stosur was not going to let her take it away so easily from her. After about 3 hours or so, Stosur defeated Williams 8-6 in the third.

In the semi’s, injured Dementieva retired from her match against Schiavone while Stosur dismissed Jankovic , 6-1 6-2. In the finals, Stosur was the clear favorite having beaten 3 former world number ones (including a current world number one) en route to her dream final. Though Stosur lost her first final, 6-4 7-6, to Schiavone she didn’t play badly. In fact, Schiavone played her best tennis displaying “Rafa” like techniques & moves.

Next up, Wimbledon. Can Federer win another title here? Can Nadal repeat his performance of Wimbledon 2008? Can Murray break English history? Watch this space for part 4…

Faute! ~ Tennis in 2010 (Part 2)

Vamos!  :

The Clay court season is dominated by one man, “Rafa”, winner of 4 French Open titles & 2010 was no different. However, the Defending champ was not going to give it to him easy. Roger Federer successfully attained the trophy in 2009 which had eluded him for so long, in fact the only Grand Slam which he hadn’t won. Robin Soderling , the ruthless Swede, was another contender having taken out Nadal in 2009 en route to the finals where he lost to a determined Federer.

On the Women’s side, Svetlana Kuznetsova was the defending champion & the competition was wild. With the return of Justine Henin & Kim Clijsters, French Open 2010 was sure to be a stellar show. Henin was the clear favorite having won it 4 times in the past but in Tennis anything can happen.

Up till the quarters there were no “shock exits” apart from Murray’s listless play against Tomas Berdych, 9^th seed Verdasco & 8^th seed Tsonga exits. The Women’s 4^th round had a few upsets such as the defeat of Venus Williams to Russian, Nadia Petrova & the biggest upset would have to be the fall of Justine Henin to Aussie, Sam Stosur. Having won the first set, everyone expected it to be a straight set affair with Henin breezing past her  opponent. However, the Australian took the next two sets  6-1 & 6-4 crushing Henin’s hope of winning a 5^th French Open title.

What happened to the top 8 Men’s & Women’s  in the French Open 2010 is to be continued…

Faute! ~ Tennis in 2010 (Part 1)

I’m going to split this recap of 2010 into several parts, I’ll try squeezing it into 5 parts(1 each for the Grand Slams & 1 part for the Masters). Enjoy!

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! :

The Hard court season is the first part of the ATP/WTA tour calendar & its one of the most exciting seasons as well. There aren’t any Masters 1000 prior to the first Grand Slam of the year, which I find peculiar considering Masters are held before the remaining Grand Slams.

Australian Open 2010 was strange in several ways: Rafael Nadal, the defending champ, lost (retired, to be precise)  to Britain’s Number .1, Andy Murray in the quarters. Murray went on to “choke” at the last leg of the tournament to an in-form Roger Federer, giving Federer his confidence & first Grand Slam since his French Open victory in 2009.

The women’s side was different in the sense that the finals had two Number.1 players & Grand Slam Champs. Serena Williams was the favorite despite her performance against feisty youngster, Victoria Azarenka & Chinese hard-hitter, Na Li (the first was a 3-setter & the second was a tight 2-setter ) .On the other hand, Justine Henin, who came out of retirement (following in the steps of mum Kim Clijsters) was a favorite too, having reached her first final since 2007. The first two sets went to both players while the third was a nail-biter with Williams clinching it, 6-2.

With these victories, Serena successfully defended her title & rank, while Federer’s win allowed him to sneak past Nadal, back to the Number.1 spot.

Coming up,  Clay Court season,watch this space..

This 'Prime' has nothing to brag about

Title : The Solitude Of Prime Numbers

Author : Paolo Giordano

U.N.Owen’s Rating : 3/5

This Book is my first tryst with “poignant” novels & sadly this could be my last as well. I’m not a person who can’t take a sad & touching tale, I really do “feel” them. However, when books like these come along I just can’t help but...snooze! “Solitude of prime numbers” is about two individuals: Alice & Mattia  who are so different yet they feel comfortable in each other’s presence. Mattia loses his twin sister while ignoring her at a party & grieves over his mistake for many years. This loss leads Mattia down the road of isolation & seclusion making him an odd ball in class. Alice on the other hand is lively & stubborn but struggles with her ski-accident injury much like Mattia suffers with his sister’s loss. When their two worlds collide, everything changes. I’m not going to give away too much for those who want to read this but all I can say is “stay away”! This isn’t a terrible book but it could have been so much better. After realising it was written by a mathematician, I wondered why he would create such a melancholy theme. I was expecting chapters on theories & principles in math which could be used in Life.In fact, there was a single instance in the book where the author makes a comparison between humans & prime numbers which was absolutely the best part of the book in a philosophical sense.Besides that single paragraph the rest of the book completely falls apart. Atleast the translation was good.


Verdict : Borrow this one from a friend (not worth getting it from a library).Hope the next book from this author is better.

Heavy Rain: Simply Superb!

Platform: PS3
U.N.Owen's Rating: 4/5

"Pitter-Patter - the Origami Killer is coming for you"

After countless shooters,RPG's & action/adventure games, Heavy Rain seems to be a rather pleasant welcome to the world of gaming. Developed by "Quantic Dream", this one is not your average "button-smashing" game. Heavy Rain is a mystery/drama which uses "rain" as its main theme.In the game,you can play as 4 characters,each with their own stories & missions (there aren't any real missions!). The game revolves around the hunt for the "Origami Killer"  who drowns his/her victims (mostly young boys) using extended periods of rainfall. Now before the game starts, I guess you need to update your PS3 version (well that's what happened for me) which can be rather long & tiresome. But the nice thing with this game is that you get a paper along with the game & they give you instructions on how to make an "origami" while the game is loading. Very nice touch QD! I usually go get a juice or something while its loading but this is the only game in which i was immersed in creating my first origami! Well once the loading is done & your set to go, you will notice that the ambience of the game is very dull,dark & gloomy, similar to a rainy day.Another brilliant touch by the developers, the feel & environment is very important for a game.

You start of as "Ethan Mars" who loses his elder son while shopping in the mall.Depressed, he refuses to let go of his memories & in the process distances himself from his younger son.Soon you find out that his son maybe the next victim of the "Origami Killer". Enter character #2, Madison Paige who is a photojournalist & lives alone. As the game progresses, Madison's & Ethan's worlds collide - she feels sorry for him & decides to help him in his search for 'Shaun'. Scott Shelby is another playable character who is a retired cop & helps in the investigation of the "Origami Killer". The last character, Norman Jayden, is an FBI profiler who helps in the investigation as well. Now I don't want to go into the details further as I would be spoiling all the fun for you gamers eagerly waiting to get their hands on the game.

The controls are relatively intuitive but  the "timed-events" can be a bother at times, a real pain if you ask me. There is no "Game Over" if your character dies (make sure it doesn't happen in the first chapter!), you just lose the character & continue on with the others. The graphics are top notch but "tearing" does occur at times, a little hiccup.Now onto the cons: replay value is low - you could restart the game & see what entails if you did things differently but the identity of the serial killer remains the same. The game isn't that long lasting over 2 days, 5-6 hours each thanks to the controls which can be annoying & time-consuming for beginners.

Verdict: This is the first noir-mystery game which is out on a leading console & its a winner in every way. The graphics & story-line is everything, which this game possesses.It truly deserves the Game of The Year (at least a nomination!) award.With an eery ambience & brilliant voice-acting, it would be tough to ask for more! Would I buy  Heavy Rain 2: NO! I doubt they can continue with the story but I would love to see more game developers & companies coming out with such daring & innovative games & story lines. I say BUY IT!!

R-r-r-u-s-h S-s-s-a-v-e-s t-h-e d-d-d-a-y!!!

U.N.Owen’s Rating:  3.7/5

*Spoiler’s Ahead!

Winner of several awards including the Golden Globes & the Oscar’s, “Kings Speech” may not  be a landmark in cinema history but it does send out a message , though a bit clichéd. The movie explains the rising of King George VI to the throne and freedom from his weakness, fear. “Bertie” ( George’s nickname) has a problem, his stammer. Every time he faces a gathering the jitterbugs shoots in & he begins to stammer. From that moment, Bertie finds peace & confidence in the form of a friend & help, Logue. As he goes through several emotional incidents, trying times, he realizes how much he could change & achieve if only he had that absent confidence & faith in himself. Through these times, he is accompanied by his loyal & faithful friend, Logue.

“Kings Speech” is ,in a nutshell, a story about a man who is at the pinnacle of attaining power & his friendship with a mere fellow being who in fact isn’t a certified Doctor. Geoffrey Rush’s performance as Lionel Logue is noteworthy, in fact he should have won an Oscar. Colin Firth, though not brilliant, did perform well enough to win an Oscar (the other’s in the category didn’t have a chance!). Scenes showing “Bertie” swear could have been cut, quite pointless.

Verdict: Overall, a good period movie in a long time with a hint of “I’ll be there for you, my friend” sprinkled on it. Watch it just for Rush’s performance. 

Goodbye lulla - BYE (Avril!)

Album: Goodbye Lullaby

Artist: Avril Lavigne

U.N.Owen’s Rating: 3.0/5

Standout Tracks: Black Star, Wish You Were Here, Darlin’, Not Enough

It’s been a year since her last album dropped & one would think that the result of her latest album would be the best since her first one. Sorry fans it isn’t. Some tracks are good but for the most part it just sounds.. pop-ish. Now m review covers the Japanese release of the album which includes 7 extra tracks.

1.Black Star : This track is sort of an intro song with a really nice piano accompaniment. Nice start to an oh-so-ordinary album.One of my favs.

2.What the Hell : The album’s first single. In my opinion this is one of her worst singles. Very generic & sounds more like “Girlfriend 2.0” (thank god its not multi-lingual!).Video doesn’t help the single as well. Skip this one.

3.Push : The first song from “Goodbye Lullaby” which sounds like a Avril Lavigne track. Not the best but worth a listen.

4.Wish You Were Here : Ok, this has got to be my favorite track of the entire album. Reminds me of her Eragon track(Keep Holding On), very nice pop ballad. Lyrics are good too.This is on repeat for me.

5.Smile : Gosh where does she get such songs. This is definitely not the “rocker-chick” avril we all know. This could be the “What the hell part 2.0” which is bearable but nevertheless not upto the mark.

6.Stop Standing There : Tough to really review this song. Not the best song nor is it the worst. In fact it sounds similar to another song, can’t put my finger on it. If you guys can, let me know (drop a comment).

7.I Love You : From the very first “La la la” I knew this one is going to suck. Yet another pop dirge, weirder version of “Wish you were here”. Till now only 2 songs are on loop.Not cool Avril!

8.Everybody Hurts : Thank god! just when I was losing all hope.Has a tinge of “I’m With You” unless I’m totally incorrect. The acoustics are the best part, her voice seems to shine when she sings “acoustic” songs. Echoes of “someday” are still ringing in my ear.Nice track.

9.Not Enough : Although the lyrics screams “Psycho” in a funny sort of way, this is actually a cool song.The music & tune is sweet.If they had used pop-beats & auto-tune this would have been a travesty.Score 4 for Team Avril ( 4 out of 9).

1. 4 Real : Boring.The snooze song of the album. Really awful.”Am I 4 real, are you 4 real..” who writes this crap.

11.Darlin’ : Yet another acoustic gem. I think Avril’s next album should have 12 acoustic songs.Bet it would score big time.

12.Alice : Taken from the “Alice in Wonderland” soundtrack. “Alice” has a haunting tone to it but it shows her versatility. She has a big range. Not a fan of the chorus though. The rest maybe, skippable in my opinion.

--Extras--

13.Remember When : Good song.Definitely the best “extra track” apart from the acoustic versions of other songs.

14.Goodbye : Skip. Good vocals but a really boring song. Some artist’s have the ability to sing slow songs/ballads in such a way that you can’t help but reaching for the tissue paper,  Avril doesn’t have it. Well atleast she hasn’t shown such techniques in this album

15.Acoustic versions of “What the hell”, “Push”, “Wish You Were Here” : Since I couldn’t stand the original version of WTH I couldn’t care less for the acoustic version. The acoustic versions of the remaining two songs are good with the latter being the only song in the entire album to have an awesome original & acoustic version.

16.Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door : I think this is a cover of a famous rock song. Sorry If my knowledge of rock-and-roll history is poor. Ok song not great.

1. Bad Reputation : Wow is this song annoying. Sounds very whiny & childish. It’s like “Mickey” turned into a rock song. Bad way to end an album.

Verdict: With so much time on her hands Its fair to say this was a lazy album. No effort taken. Felt like it was molded towards teens & pop fans, leaving behind classic Avril rock tunes.I’d recommend you to just download the standout tracks on itunes.With this album it felt more like “Goodbye Avril”.Share your views on the album in the comment section.