3-1; Oh what a Messi!

Manchester United outclassed again by the catalans, FC Barcelona!

Manchester United went into the match with a 19th Premeir League title,high hopes and expectations, especially after the Ryan Giggs controversey and the fact that both Scholes and Van Der Saar may be retiring after the end of the 2010/11 season. 
Barcelona had the psychological advantage in that they had beat United in the same finals 2-0 in 2009, won two Spanish titles: La Liga (Premiership) and Supercopa de España (Supercup) this year, and; hailed as the next Diego Maradona; Argentinian Lionel Messi.

United started the match well, passing the ball under control and taking shots as soon as they could, hoping to get a comfortable lead. However, this was no mere English side they were playing, Barcelona kept their cool, used their stamina and fought fire with MORE fire! Whereas Man Utd passed and drove forward, Barcelona did the same but also knew that attacking Man Utd was not a solo task,they sent several players up each time! By the 15 minute mark, Barcelona began to break even with Man Utd in terms of control,and scored the first goal of the night on the 27 minute mark (a mid level power shot by Pedrito).
Man Utd woke up from this and reignited their fire, Wayne Rooney equalised at 34 minutes with a superb shot into the top corner.

Man Utd supporters believed that Sir Alex's wise words over the break would motivate them to victory in the second half. However, Utd's strength kept ebbing away and Messi seemed to have limitless stamina! A shot by him in the 54th minute seemed too far away to pose a threat and one would assume that either it would hit the post, go wide or be saved; maybe with an average player this would be true but not with Messi! The person hailed as the World's Greatest  made it 2-1!

United became more aggressive as the minutes ticked by, most notably this was seen with Antonio Valencia's constant fouling and Man Utd's mad-dashed to the other side's goal. However, even with aggression and pressure, Barcelona neutralised Man Utd by keeping a tight defence and, for every attacking player, three Barcelona defenders and holders neutralised him and regained the ball.

Man Utd brought on Nani in the hope that his talent and youth would turn the tide, this was not to be as Barcelona soon scored within two minutes of this swap with a goal from David Villa at 69 minutes. Part of the World Cup Winning Spanish National team, Villa made it 3-1!

Even bringing on the veteran Paul Scholes was not enough for Man Utd, they just could not breathe let alone score! By 80 minutes, everyone knew the match was over as Barcelona had MORE THAN 65% POSSESSION!

As the whistle blew on the 93 minute mark, Man Utd knew that they did not play bad, in fact, if it was any other team they may have clinched a third title! However, they were not playing just any team, they were playing FC Barcelona- the world's greatest fútbol team.




   

OOOOH-NOOO! Macho Man Randy Savage dies!

It is a sad day for professional wrestling, Randy Savage, one of the most charismatic and entertaining wrestlers from the WWF;WCW and TNA, has died in Tampa,Florida. Known by his ring name 'Macho Man', Savage is thought to have suffered a heart attack while driving, and crashed his Jeep Wrangler into a tree. Although his wife of one year, Lynn survived, Savage died from the injuries.

1952-2011

REST IN PEACE

2011 has been a very 'bad' year so far: Uprisings in Tunisia;Egypt;Bahrain;Libya and other Arab nations, Earthquakes in New Zealand, a Tsunami in Japan, the death of fitness legend Jack LaLanne (who died young considering he gave up luxurios junk foods and was healthier than people double his age); legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor; family members and friends, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's separation. The worse thing is that it has not even been half of the year and worse, 2012 is prophesised to be an even worse year.

For those that believe in God or 'luck', hopefully he'll give us a break-every year someone important has died or a tragic event occured.

Savage was part of the Golden era of Professional Wrestling, when stars like: 'Real American' Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, André the Giant, The Undertaker and Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and Shawn 'The Heartbreak Kid' Michaels were in their prime and under the banner of WWF.

Please Vince, instate Randy into the WWE Hall of Fame next year.

 
   
   

Now who is your Daddy, and what does he do?

'Governator' Arnold Schwarzenegger spills beans on separation- AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD!

After the shock separation with wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver-Schwarzenegger, Arnie tells us that recently he told Maria that he had a child 10 years ago with one of his workers. Originally, there were reports of Maria stating how life with Arnold was getting more and more difficult, especially since he was extremely busy as governor and didn't have the luxury of several months off work in comparison to his Hollywood career. 

Those that are bodybuilding fans may remember that Arnold was a PLAYER when he was a competitive bodybuilder and a single actor;he regularly bedded different women weekly and was into partying,booze,cigars and the old marijuana! Even before his appointment as governor, women accused him of harassment in the form of groping- Arnold did admit he behaved inappropriately in his heyday but said it was nothing too extreme!

It is sad if the Schwarzeneggers divorce because they were one of the Golden couples of America, like Michael Douglas and Catherine-Zeta Jones or Barack and Michelle Obama. Some say he married Maria only for the connections (she is the neice of John F. Kennedy) but four children 14 and over, and 25 years of marriage shows love does it not?

Whether Arnold gets divorced or not, he has an eye on three movies including another Terminator film and additionally, it is very likely he will be in the sequel to the Expendables.

Finally, Arnie has expressed interest in rebuilding his physique- with a great physique come great movie roles and even greater women! Here is the quote from a fan site,

'Arnold has stated in no uncertain terms that he is unhappy with the current shape of his body. He said recently in an interview with Newsweek that “I feel sh**ty when I look at myself in the mirror” and “I'm not competing, I'm not ripping off my shirt and trying to sell the body ... when I stand in front of the mirror and really look, I wonder, ‘What the f**k happened here? Jesus Christ. What a beating.’” This means that a big change in his physique is coming. Arnold is not the type of man that accepts things that he is not happy with in life. He always works to change them for the better.'

Schwarzenegger's biggest mission is to reclaim the love of his life, but if it does not work out,

    

   

Disney to Produce Rival to 'The Expendables' ?

Disney have trademarked the name 'Seal Team Six' after the team that raided the Al Qaeda compound in Pakistan and executed Osama bin Laden. Could this be the precursor to a line of toys,action figures, video games and *gasp* movies?

If it becomes a movie, it is most likely that it will be released next year or the year after, most probably the same time the sequel to The Expendables is released. If this is so, who could be members of the team, Feet Up's members thought up an idea of potential stars while also remembering that many of the big names (e.g. Stallone,Statham,Willis,Schwarzenegger,etc.) could be in The Expendables. Considering it will be a Disney movie, the actors have to be appealing to the kids as role models while also being patriotic. Here is a potential list of the team (6 members in the team just to make the number 6 relevant):

Chris Evans- Captain America! Most obvious choice!

Michael Jai White - Is a regular in Superhero-based productions e.g. Universal Soldier,Dark Knight,Mortal Kombat, Spawn

John Cena-Posterboy of the WWE and plays a badass airforce member as part of his gimmick

Clint Eastwood- Could play a badass War Veteran in this movie

Robert Patrick-Would be awesome because of his soul-piercing facial expressions and the fact he always plays the "take no shit" American like in Terminator 2 or The Faculty

Hulk Hogan-Most obvious choice for a movie about American soldiers- all of todays young adults looked up to him as a kid and he was always the "Real American" with the infamous 'Train,say your prayers,eat your vitamins' saying

      

 

Double Glory for Machester's Football Clubs!!!!

 

It was a memorable day for both Manchester United and Manchester City as (spookily in the 74th and 73rd minute) the Premier League (United)and FA Cup (City) were apprehended today.

For Manchester United, Wayne Rooney's second half goal-by-penalty against Blackburn levelled them at 1-1 after trailing behind the majority of the match; the point was enough to ensure that United's points accumulation could not be caught by the other clubs this season. The Red Devils have now officially beaten long-time rivals Liverpool FC to their 19th Premier League title AND have won more titles than any English club.

Later in the day, Yara Toure's second half goal against Stoke was enough to finish the match at 1-0 and give Manchester City their first title since 1976! City are double happy this week after finding out that the 1-0 win over Tottenham keeps them in the top 4 of the Premier League and ready for the UEFA Champions League next year!

Fingers crossed Manchester United will also win their third UEFA Championship this year for they will be playing Spanish giants Barcelona on May 28th in Wembley-a rematch of the 2009 final in which United lost 2-0!



    

"Why..."-a philosophical article

All members of Feet Up had lunch at a Chinese restaurant today; it was a very beautiful,authentic and reasonably priced restaurant in Southampton,England called Royal Wok. Anyway, it was the first Chinese restaurant we had been to that offers a separate menu for spicy dishes. As we looked through it, some 'shocking' dishes were found including:  duck's blood, diced frog, chicken feet, pig's ear and tongue. Funnily enough, in China, silworms and caterpillars are eaten freshly barbequed and/or stir fried. 

One at first may think 'ewww-why do they eat everything?!' but they must remember that China has over 1 billion people so they need to eat something as food is scarce for so many! Additionally, the Chinese Empire influenced all other oriental countries including: Singapore,Malaysia,Thailand,Vietnam,Cambodia,Laos and of course, Japan so these dietary habits were picked up. But it is not only in oriental countries that people eat 'disgusting' foods:- in Indonesia, Spiders are a delicassy, in some parts of India they make chutney from ants,  in jungle areas (see Australian continent) the witchetty grub is an example of a bug that it eaten regularly.Countries suffering from poor vegetation need to find something to eat and find a protein fix. 

Anyway, we may think that eating insects is disgusting but see this: the food colouring cochineal (also known as carmine,carminic acid or E120) is made from beetles that are baked and crushed, cochineal is found in many a foods that are coloured red (see Smarties as an example). Not to mention Shellac is similar, used as a glaze for many foods (see M & Ms),it is found as the resin that small insects produce but many times the insects themselves are also harvested (300,000 lac insects are killed for every kilogram 2.2 lbs. of lac resin produced and approximately 25% of all unrefined, harvested lac resin is composed of “insect debris”);funnily enough it is considered vegetarian at times since the person does not intend to/eat 'enough' insect bits for it to be deemed unvegetarian(a very small percentage of ALL food has insect parts when harvested/cooked-it is part of the manufacturing process and natural so don't worry since you can NEVER get 0.0% insects).

Now to the "Why..." part of the article, the first few statements refer to the bewildering foods eaten by people:

Why do people hesitate drinking blood of animals even though black pudding (British sausage made with animal blood) and meat have blood in it (again, even Halal or Kosher meat is not 100% blood free)?

Why do people frown upon eating offal meat-especially from other cultures? As well as the examples of the oriental offal, in Muslim countries (see Pakistan and Arabia) they eat the tongue;ball of feet;marrow and brains of red meat in a curry (Nihari) and spiced lamb trotters (Paya) yet Western nations think it is vile EVEN THOUGH gelatine (found in many childrens' sweets including Haribo) is made by boiling animal bones, and sausages are made by shoulder;neck and belly meat wrapped in pig intestines! In fact, within the West, people who eat sausages and gelatine hate the idea of paté or haggis! Meat is meat, if it tastes good, eat it! Which brings us to the next point


Why do people protest against laboratory testing on animals when they eat meat? Surely it is more important that animals are used to test medicines that can one day enhance and save a human's life?! Meat is not an essential part of the diet so that is no excuse to eat it but at the same time complain that animals are used for useful purposes!


Why do people hate the idea of eating insects YET eat seafood such as: prawns, shrimps, crabs, lobsters, crayfish and various other crustaceans/exoskeleton creatures?! These are the insects of the sea and have many many legs and are just as dangerous (if that is the reason one is afraid of insects). Plus the idea of 'the sea cleaning them' is ridiculous-the animals do EVERYTHING in the water that surrounds and touches them (think what EVERYTHING means ;-) )


Why...(NOT food)


Why is prostitution illegal yet pornography deemed legal? Pornography minus camera is prostitution. In 1988, studies have shown 86% of rapists use pornography and over half of that 86% imitated porn scenes.87% of girl molesters and 77% of boy molesters regularly used hard core porn.57% of college students admitted to wishing to try out rape if they could get away with it after watching 10 hours of rape porn. To top it all off most porn 'stars' have had STDs, abortions, and miscarriages and, hundreds if not thousands have died through drug abuse and overdose, and suicide. One could say the exploitation and abuse would end if money was invested in it and prostitution also made legal but why would you spend your hard-earned tax money on something that will ALWAYS lead to serial killers,rapists and molesters?

Why is polygamy deemed 'bad' in the Western world if it is natural by animal standards? If all the members of the relationship are treated equally and loved (not treated as objects), then there should be no reason it be illegal. In fact, it is more likely to end the taboo (and wrong) idea of 'swinging' because there will be LOVE amongst members and a selection of members to love (NOT the meaningless sex found in swinging-heck, even polygamist Hugh Hefner had several girlfriends who he loved and stayed committed to).

Why is nudity seen as indescent? Nudity is natural, animals do not wear clothing from other animals; they have their own e.g feathers and fur! In fact, the only reason for clothes is to keep one warm IN WINTER. In summer, nudity is the best way to keep cool!

Why are certain drugs made illegal and prohibited (note: in the UK, tobacco can not be advertised and even displaying it will be soon illegal) while alcohol is promoted? Alcohol has many ill-effects and causes health problems and like drugs, can be controlled by the user if taken in moderation. Should not alcohol also have something to control its abuse?

Why are 'good' and 'evil' seen as different points of view? Reviewing Bin Laden's attacks on the West and (more apparent) Hitler's genocide of the Jews;Slavs;Poles;Serbs;Gays;Gypsises;Disabled People;Jehovah's Witnesses;Freemasons and other random groups, if one attacks innocent citizens in a cowardly terror attack, the killing of people is automatically evil! Killing someone is the worst thing one can do but can be justified if in extreme self defence e.g. on the battlefield BUT killing human beings who have done nothing to you/who are noncombatants is truly evil.



Why do people look down on religion? Many religions have changed over time by what a GROUP of people agree on but there are two core ideas: SOMETHING (even if it is the Higgs Boson particle) made the first atom;even if there was NOTHING (imagine a screen of white), WHAT is nothing (how do you describe it/how it was/ using the white screen example, and what is 'no colour')? Secondly, there is an idea that something defining you exists before you are born and after you die,there is no matter or substance called 'life' that can be artificially created; like energy, it can not be created nor destroyed. Religion is not the be-all-end-all to answer question YET science just can't prove some things.



Why do religions fight each other so much? Is it not in a human being's nature to love and share? Would fighting and killing change the other's religious beliefs GENUINELY? OF COURSE NOT! God should be happy we believe in him and he should understand people get confused! The best bet is to play it safe like the legendary Han Solo,

"I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field controls my destiny."

Why is democracy and a free society seen of as 'good'? Without laws and enforcement of the laws, freedom of speech leads to hurtful accusations and crime in the form of violence,theft,prostitution,piracy and ignorance towards people. As stated before, pornography is one of the obvious entities that is a smokescreen shrouding corruption from the bottom upwards! Countries with strict laws and punishments may seem harsh but the punishment and death of thousands of criminals and rebels sends out a message of ''behave!'' and is surely better than millions dead from crime!

Why do we praise men who sleep with dozens of women but look down on women who have slept with many men? This one is hard to answer-surely we should praise the woman for being so attractive (a woman's strong point) that men are infatuated with her; the only way we can praise the man is if he's so awesome that women LOOK FOR HIM. Is that the case and if so, how can you tell what aspect the women are attracted to and (if he is truly "awesome") whether the man is really attracted to the various women as much as they want him?

Why do feminists exist hate the fact that men like to look at beautiful women with varying degrees of clothes on? Women care far more about their appearance than men do so it is a compliment that women are noticed for their looks; it will lead them on to greater things/ even if they do not model, a pretty woman is more likely to be successful in business than an ugly woman with the same qualifications and experience.

Why do masculinists not exist? Perhaps todays masculinists are anti metrosexual and homophobes because they think male modelling and caring about physique is gay?

We're keepers of the peace,not soldiers

Happy Intergalactic STAR WARS day!!!!

It has been 34 years since the creation of the marvel that was Star Wars. In that time, it has made: over $22 BILLION DOLLARS, 6 Blockbusters,over 100 books; comics and graphic novels, over 100 video games,action figures;toys; and board games, and movie memorabilia to name a few!

There are dozens of reasons that Star Wars is innovative and one of the greatest franchises of all time. Here are a few:

It's better than STAR TREK

Ok, it's true that Star Wars was influenced by Star Trek but the following reasons show it has become far greater Jedi  franchise that Trek could ever hope to be:

1. The characters:

Star Trek has less than 10 great characters: Kirk, Spock,Data,Worf,Picard,Riker,Sisko, Bashir and Quark.
The FIRST Star Wars Trilogy already had: Luke Skywalker,Obi Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia,Han Solo, Chewbacca,R2 D2, C3PO, Lando Calrissian,Yoda, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, Darth Vader AND Emperor Palpatine! Then there are other characters from the original trilogy such as: Padmé, Qui Gon Jinn, Darth Maul, Count Dooku, The Jedi Council, and deserving a separate point:

2. Mace Windu:

Star Trek does not have many characters with unique features and a back storycompared to Star Wars. However, Samuel L Jackson and Mace Windu alone is a reason that the PREQUELS are far better than the entire Star Trek film and TV series. Why? The following pictures show you:

  3. The movies

Star Wars has 6 live-action movies plus a CGI film; Star Trek has 11. Star Trek has won 31 emmys and an Oscar for 'Best Makeup',Star Wars has won 10 of 25 Oscar nominations as well as other awards. Star Trek's entire franchise has made approximatley $5 billion dollars; the Star Wars films alone, have made $4.5 billion. Add $10 billion + made from videogames, toys and memoribilia and you can say that Star Wars pretty much owns it in terms of success.

4. Toys and Games

Battlefront, Rogue Squadron, Battle for Naboo, Force Unleashed, Racer

Action figures,lego,masks, costumes, lightsabres.

Enough said.

5. Geekiness vs Awesomeness

Star Trek: Too many episodes over one hour long, "Star Date 123456", "He's hailing us commander" and " Set phasers on stun"-a soap opera that geeks HAVE TO watch to fully comprehend.

Star Wars: 6 films-all you need; if you wish to explore the story further there are video games,books and comics bridging the films. Short and sweet. 
To add to the awesomeness, Star Wars has: LIGHTSABRES THAT CAN CUT THROUGH ANYTHING, "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?";"Great kid, don't get cocky!" "Apology accepted Captain Needa";"This party's over" and "Are you threatening me Master Jedi?"
and of course:

Star Wars retells the great stories and myths of old (and the prequels DO make sense!)

The Phantom Menace

Jedi= Shaolin Monks,Knights Templar/ Ji Dai (Samurai) 

The Force= Chi or Karma with Yin and Yang (Light and Darkness)

Qui Gon= Qigong (life)

Obi Wan and Qui Gon= The ideal Jedi/Padawan partnership

Qui Gon/Yoda/Obi Wan= Merlin/Gandalf- the great sages and mentors who lead our heroes 

Naboo= Nabu (Mother Earth)

Queen Amidala= Mother Earth/ Mother of PRINCESS Leia

Anakin/Luke= Genghis Khan/Spartacus/Moses/Jesus- slaves born to do great things. The chosen ones

Pod Racing= Chariot Racing

Darth Maul= Literally the devil's incarnate (red skin and horns), almost as evil as Vader

Lightsabre= Enchanted sword like Excalibur or Zeus' Thunderbolt

Attack of the Clones

Anakin and Padmé= Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love

Battle of Geonosis= The Gladiators (Obi Wan, Anakin and Padmé) fighting beats (Reek,Acklay and Nexu)

Count Dooku= Like Vader, a powerful Jedi turned to the Dark Side by lust for power

Revenge of the Sith

Asajj Ventress (in between Episodes II and III)= a powerful force user who becomes a Jedi and turns to the Dark Side like Vader.

General Grevious= Like Vader, a biological being dependant on a machine to live; his mask becomes his new face.

The fall of Anakin and the rise of Vader= The Serpent Devil (Palpatine) offering a forbidden apple (the dark side) to Eve (Anakin). The fall of Lucifer and the rise of Satan.

Battle of Kashyyk= Like the battle in Saving Private Ryan

Order 66= The killing of rivals like in Godfather

Mustafar=Hell

Palpatine/Sidious= On both sides, creates a fake war to spread his enemies thin and eventually create power like Caesar,Napoleon,Hitler,Mao and Saddam 

Stormtroopers= The SA of Nazi Germany, terrorising and pillaging to their leader's orders

The Empire= Red/White and Black, like the Nazi flag

Darth Vader= A fallen angel. A helmet like those the Nazis wore and a face like a Samurai. Based on Sauron,Dr Doom and Lightning from Fighting Devil Dogs (Lightning also had white suited troopers and a imperial ship).Darth Vader is Dark Father in Latin.

A New Hope

 
Han Solo= Rebel and loner who ladies love. Homage to gun-toting cowboys,Robin Hood and James Kirk.

Han and Luke infiltrating the Death Star to save Leia= Flash Gordon and Prince Barin infiltrating the fortress to save Princess Aura

Princess Leia= Damsel in distress who is actually a heroine and strong woman

Luke and Leia= Artemis and Apollo; twins sent to save the world.

R2 D2 and C3PO= Comic relief but heroes nonetheless (see Merry and Pippin from Lord of the Rings)

Obi Wan,Han,Chewie,Leia,Luke,Lando, R2 and 3PO= The Fellowship of the Ring or Dorothy and friends (Wizard of Oz)

The Death Star battle=Likebattle  in Dambusters

Empire Strikes Back

A ghost speaking to those left behind- like in Macbeth or Hamlet

Return of the Jedi

Jabba the Hutt= The Dragon holding the Princess hostage and guarding the treasure (frozen Han Solo). Reminds people of Hermann Goering of Nazi Germany.

    

Bin Laden Dead-The World Rejoices-STAR WARS STYLE!

Tears of joy came when Jedi Master Chuck Norris spearheaded the attack against Dark Lord Bin Laden! It is only fitting that the following music be played IMMEDIATELY! The war may not be over but it is a key win for the Republic Rebel Alliance Western World and civilised East!

President Obama unleashes Chuck Norris on Al Qaeda

At 1 AM in Pakistan, US Navy SEALs and Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence raided the Abbottabad Compound, speculated to be the Mansion of Osama Bin Laden. The raid last approximatley 35 minutes, at which point, a Navy SEAL contacted President Barack Obama directly to say that there was heavy resistance from Al Qaeda and ex-Taliban members. After hearing that Bin Laden was in the Compound, President Obama telephoned World Karate Champion Chuck Norris at 1.38AM.


As soon as Norris received the call, he sprinted faster than the speed of light and reached the raid at 1.39 AM. After AK-47 bullets deflected off of his chest, Norris karate chopped the drones out of the way. At 1.40 AM Norris had Bin Laden in sight and used his patented roundhouse kick to disarm and stun Bin Laden. Before Bin Laden could recover, Chuck's third fist emerged from his beard and killed Bin Laden; a shotgun sized hole remains in Bin Laden's head. The raid finished before 1.41AM and Chuck was back in America and in bed by 1.42AM. Bin Laden was pronounced dead at 2.30PM after DNA tests were taken to confirm it was him.

The following image is a FAKE because Bin Laden's body was buried at sea; if he was buried on land, potential followers and shamans that can resurrect the dead would go to his gravesite. The proof that it's a photoshopped fake is seen by combining image one and two and seeing the 'too perfect' similarities

Artists impression of the scuffle between the two