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Accidental Couple
Episode 1 of Accidental Couple (aka Just Looking aka That Fool, 2009) was surreal. Never had I been so simultaneously awed and repulsed. Here was acting at its finest and here was acting so excruciatingly awful I wanted to throw a shoe at the screen.
Imagine the very best tenor in the world giving the standout performance of his life. He opens his mouth to sing and your jaw drops; it will remain on the floor for the entirety of the concert. Then it's the turn of the accompanying "choir" and your hair stands as you listen to what sounds like seagulls and sea lions cackling and barking at each other. You call that singing?
But behold a miracle midway in the performance.
With eight numbers down and eight more to go, you suddenly realize the discordant noises have disappeared. It's as if the tenor has sprinkled magic dust on the singers around him. The choir is now singing in tandem, its members' faces flushed with joy. You take your fingers out of your ears.
See, perfection is contagious after all. You can't be acting sixteen episodes with Hwang Jung-min and not have his greatness rub off on you. The more scenes you have with him, the more rapidly you are going to improve. How can you not when the man infuses the air around him with such purity? Yes, that's the word. His acting is so pure in intent and execution it leaves you awestruck.
The magic begins the very moment he appears. This man with the nerdy haircut and the imperfect skin, a school-boy satchel hanging from one shoulder. This nondescript man. For many years now he has worked in a post office, not delivering mail but selling postal insurance. He doesn't have the gift of the gab, obviously, so he doesn't sell as many policies as his frustrated chief expects. He loves to sing and for two years has posted a sign-up form for colleagues to start a singing group with him. No one comes forward. He has a crush on a pretty colleague, but she doesn't even glance in his direction. Not once has he been on a date and his sister despairs that he will ever get married.
One night he attends an awards ceremony for the acting luminaries in his country. His favorite star wins for best acting by a female lead and he is ecstatic. On his way home, still starry-eyed from the night's events, he sees a car spinning out of control and crashing into a wall. He runs to the car and inside is his idol, that best actress. Please help me, she begs. Please sit in the driver's seat and act as if you were my chauffeur tonight.
He does as she instructs. And just like that, like a bizarre dream, our hero's life changes completely.
I sat through the first few episodes of Accidental Couple with a lump in my throat. The tears threatened but never fell; the crying was all internal.
My heart ached for Gu Dong-baek. How I hated seeing him used and misused in an outrageous charade that will advance other people's political ambitions and illicit passions — people who care only about themselves and not for him. A contract marriage with the actress Han Ji-soo so that her "scandal" with Gu Dong-baek will quell rumors that she and a certain politician's son are an item.
The politician is running for the ultimate mayorship position: Mayor of Seoul. To win he needs the backing of the gilded in industry, specifically the owner of the country's biggest media conglomerate. So he gets his son engaged to the media mogul's daughter. Engagement perks for the young'un, who is schooled abroad and thankfully does not take after his dad in the looks department, include a coveted position in his father-in-law's company.
Six months is all it takes for the charade to run its course. Once the politician is elected mayor, the son will break off his engagement and marry his true love — the actress whom he has been dating for seven years. That is the plan. To pull it off, they need someone to play the actress's husband. Someone they can manipulate easily. Someone like Gu Dong-baek.
Contract marriages. Haven't we seen them in kdramas before? Full House immediately comes to mind, except in that one the gender roles are the reverse. Most of the time the couple enter into a contract marriage because one of them is in dire straits, usually financially. Not so in Accidental Couple.
I concede Gu Dong-baek is not coerced into playing the role of the pseudo husband. He's her fan. She seems so unhappy and he badly wants to see her smile, to be joyful again. So out of the goodness of his heart he agrees to her request. He just wants to help her, it's as simple as that. But it's precisely his pure-heartedness and her and her lover and his father's collective selfishness that make the whole thing so wrong. How can they get away with such exploitation?
When, after a spell of being together and thinking she's comfortable enough with him, he alludes to them being friends and she immediately squashes the idea, my heart cried for him. When her lover, that Kang-mo guy, turns up in Guam unexpectedly and it's so obvious that our hero is the third wheel, I couldn't stop the tears this time. What is heartbreaking is how he smiles through the whole charade, how he picks himself up and just plods on. He cries, thinking no one is looking. He keeps looking out for her, protecting her, doing everything she asks of him, like a fool.
But I didn't just hate how shabbily Gu Dong-baek was treated or the far-fetched premise of the plot. It was also how terrible some of the acting was in the first few episodes. I could not believe one drama could showcase acting that ranged from the sublime to the abysmal… in the lead roles! But let's talk about the sublime first.
I will come out on a limb here and say that Hwang Jung-min's acting is so amazing it ranks up there in my all-time Top Three best performance by a male lead in a kdrama, together with Kim Myung-min (White Tower, 2007) and Yang Dong-geun (Ruler of Your Own World, 2002). Such acting comes around only once every few years.
I missed Gu Dong-baek every single second he wasn't in a scene. Despite being a pawn, albeit a willing one, in a farce that I had strong ethical objections to, he made me smile till I thought I was going to get jaw ache. He was an intoxicant giving me a high; I couldn't get enough. He made me, an increasingly crappy cynic, believe that "heart of gold" isn't just an idiom that you bandy around, but that it can exist. Gu Dong-baek's heart is indeed golden; it is indeed genuinely kind and good.
Unfortunately, the people taking advantage of his goodness are many.
There's his actress wife, so caught up in her sacrificial lamb role she does not realize how blinded she is. Looking at how easily Kang-mo and his father can manipulate her (the sham marriage is their idea), you would think she is all legs and not much else. (I would kill for those legs, though. Just saying.) Playing her is Kim Ah-joong, in what is my first real look at her. (I've seen her, of course, on the cover of my 200 Pounds Beauty DVD. Remind me to watch that at some point.)
If it weren't for Hwang Jung-min's spades of awesomeness, I would have fled from Accidental Couple within minutes of Kim Ah-joong's appearance.
The woman looks fabulous from head to toe, front to back, up close or plastered on the wall in yet another seductive pose. But she can't act. Put her together in a scene with Kang-mo's Joo Sang-wook and every flaw in their acting is magnified tenfold. Her acting is as nuanced as a porcupine is cuddly, and he is merely going through the paces. I have no idea what she sees in him because he is essentially emotionless. Everything he does feels like 2% milk, diluted and bland. The guy doesn't have a single standout scene.
No matter how I hated Sang-hyuk in Winter Sonata, at least I remember him lying on the hospital bed like the pathetic second fiddle that he is, pretending to be dead so that his ex-girlfriend will be so gripped by pangs of guilt she'll zip back to his side. In contrast, nothing about Kang-mo is memorable. He isn't so evil that you despise him. He isn't so angelic (like a certain second fiddle in Brilliant Legacy) that your heart hurts for him. He is just… boring. But what is truly sad is that he remains the same for sixteen episodes. Because he shares so few scenes with the great Hwang Jung-min, that's why. Not enough opportunity for "iron sharpening iron" to work.
Kim Ah-joong, on the other hand, is the female lead; she and Hwang Jung-min are constantly together. Even if they sleep on separate floors and work in different places (he in a post office and she in another world), they breathe the same air at home. All that togetherness can't possibly leave her unaffected.
It took several episodes, but after a while I forgot to roll my eyes when it was a Han Ji-soo scene. I stopped studying her legs and features (or taking little mental notes such as "That hair color looks fantastic on her, but I'm sure it'll look frightful on me.). Instead I laughed when she was being silly, like the time Dong-baek asked her to make him laugh ten times, and I even teared with her when she was giving that press conference. By the middle of the drama (Episode 8 is the episode where everything sort of clicks and the choir members stop looking like they were just plucked randomly off the streets), it is obvious there is a palpable chemistry between our two leads. They look adorable cooking together; they stop looking like an accidental couple.
It's the same with Lee Chung-ah and Baek Sung-hyun: Hwang Jung-min's magic finding its way to them, teaching them that anyone can act like the crazies gotten you, but real acting is all about control.
The last time I watched Lee Chung-ah was several years ago in Temptation of Wolves. Her acting was nothing to shout about then, even as the female lead. But in Accidental Couple, watching her in the first two episodes was like nails on a chalkboard. I wanted to reach into the screen and tell her this (before gagging her): Have mercy on your viewers. Find another profession. Anything but acting. If Kim Ah-joong is bad, you are worse.
By the end of the drama I loved Lee Chung-ah's Min-ji. She made me giggle and laugh out loud. She was that gust of wind sweeping into a room the instant the windows were opened, dispelling the stale air and making one feel suddenly rejuvenated. I loved how she fussed over her brother, how she idolized her famous sister-in-law, how her jaw dropped at her brother-in-law's abs.
Ah, that brother-in-law. That Sang-chul. Han Ji-soo's brother back from Australia, supposedly, but behaving like he just emerged from acting lessons taught by really incensed gorillas. How else to explain why the guy is a walking ball of rage? First Lee Chung-ah and now Baek Sung-hyun. What's with the overacting at the start?
But the same transformation takes place as well and soon I was marveling at the writer's cleverness: make Sang-chul Kang-mo's unwitting antagonist, yes! Whereas Kang-mo is trying to drive Dong-baek and Ji-soo apart, Sang-chul will make them fall in love and become a real couple. The result is some of my favorite scenes in the drama: bantering, shopping, snuggling together. I love our Dong-chul couple!
Thus, as first impressions go, the first episode tossed out enough bad acting and shenanigans to make me want to bail out, and I would have, normally. But I was so drunk on Hwang Jung-min's portrayal of Gu Dong-baek.
This isn't my first time watching him; the first was long ago in that wonderful action noir, A Bittersweet Life. He was a revelation there as the villain; I still shiver when I remember his sneer and that facial scar. But Lee Byung-hun was so riveting there as the lead, I didn't pay enough attention to Hwang Jung-min. Still, he was unforgettable. Other movies followed: Waikiki Brothers, You Are My Sunshine, A Lovely Week. He always delivered, playing every sweet or sinister character with passion and panache. But I never really fell in love, not until Accidental Couple.
If I can give only one reason why I am so smitten with Hwang Jung-min here, it is that he plays his character with so much heart. Every little thing he does — whether he is smiling or crying, leaping into the ocean or playing board games — is so heartfelt, so sincere and earnest. We forget that he is acting; we think that he is indeed Gu Dong-baek.
But although I love everything about Hwang Jung-min in this drama, I do not love everything about Gu Dong-baek. Especially after he fell in love with his fake wife, he seemed more subdued, nodding in agreement more often than I felt necessary. He was less carefree than before; he walked with less lift in his steps. I particularly dislike that side-plot with Kyung-ae, that annoying colleague that he had a crush on and who decided belatedly that she was going to reciprocate. The whole thing about her holding our couple to ransom was just so stupid. Just as the drama was moving at a trot, she emerged and slowed everything to a crawl.
But in the end, all the little annoyances don't matter. You don't need more than one reason to watch Accidental Couple, and this one reason alone will make up for all of the drama's shortcomings. Silly office bickering becomes watchable, the camaraderie in that post office making me feel all warm inside. I stop cringing at unrealistic plot twists and wait gleefully instead for that happy-ever-after that I know will come. Gu Dong-baek's too good of a man not to be given all the happiness that he deserves.
It's been a long time since I watched a drama at this pace: devouring sixteen episodes in two days with no fast-forwarding. A simple Cinderella story of a mismatched couple falling in love against all odds. This story reached out and grabbed me. I don't know if Accidental Couple will make my Top Five best dramas of the year, but I do know that I've found my Best Actor.
K-dramas Reviews	Accidental CoupleBaek Sung HyunHwang Jung MinJoo Sang WookKim Ah JoongKim Myung MinLee Byung HunLee Chung AhLee Soo YoungYang Dong Geun 17 Comments
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17 thoughts on "Accidental Couple"
daheefanel says:
HURRAY!!!!! 😀
I admit it: I've been dropping by your blog every few hours ever since you said you finished AC, hoping that you'd written something and posted it up. I've been dying to read what you thought, and you certainly did not let me down. 😀
Hwang Jung Min is simply a sensation here. I can't get enough of him. Agreed – he is THE best actor of the year so far. I also agree that it feels like spending so much time with his genius rubbed off on everyone else on the set. How could you NOT be affected, really?
I also kind of hated Ji-soo until around episode eight. After that, she was fine. Thank goodness!
And the Dong-chul couple!! *heart* I love them so, so much. I gobbled up every scene they had together. They're so adorable. Their chemistry was on FIIIIIRE.
I wonder how I would react if I met a Gu Dong-baek in real life? I'm sure he would be frustrating to deal with at times, since he's always thinking of others, and never himself. You might end up feeling a little inadequate, compared to him. But I think at the end of the day, he would help make you a better person, help you become more courageous. I love him so. How could I not? My heart feels like it's going to burst whenever I think of him.
Hwang Jung Min is always saying that he wants to be an actor who acts with his whole heart. He wants to become an actor who never lies, who is always portraying his real and sincere feelings. I think he's succeeded (although he may disagree with me!).
By the way, unni, I think you should watch "Happiness", his film with Im Soo Jung. He's phenomenal there, too, except this time, he's acting as a Bad Guy, a selfish person. Very different from Gu Dong-baek.
Okay, I'll shut up now. Thank you, unni!
deeta says:
In addition to being boring, Kangmo has the unfortunate destiny of being a total asshole who looks like he's had constipation for a while. I despised him and never felt sorry for him.
I like your choir metaphor, it's very fitting. I had a hard time finishing the first 8 episodes. But episode 9 onwards were breezy. It was a hugely fun ride.
I have to admit that I was not convinced by the pairing of KAJ and HJM, they just don't look…together. But I think it was around episode 11 for me that they became to actually look like a couple. When Jisoo becomes more playful and less remorse and I guess KJA sucks at being serious because I thought her best moments are moments where she can laugh and play with Dongbaek.
I know HJM's been in lots of projects, but honestly, from now on, I will always think of GDB whenever I hear HJM. GDB is just such a memorable character.
Anyways, thanks for reviewing this drama!
Ooh, Kyungae is actually a character I totally heart. I literally started giggling whenever she comes on the screen because she's just hilarious to boo. She just cracks me up. She's got a good heart, she wants to save GDB from being used by HJS. She threatens them to break up simply because she has no idea JS's and DB's feelings are mutual. I remember she was like 'Wait, HJS, so you're into him too?? Then WTF am I doing..' or something like that, lols. She pretends to be smart, but is definitely not the sharpest thing. Gawd, I'm a totaly Kyungae fan, hahah..
Sparrow says:
I also have a confession I've been checking this site regularly because of the wonderful recaps of Shining Inheritance.
I adore the main lead, I fell in love with him in Happiness, even though he was a totall a-hole there.
But I also admire Kim Ah-joong who carried 200 Pounds Beauty on here shoulders (as much as I love Joo Jin Mo he only has a supporting role there). She has fantastic comical timing which they didn't utilise here until several episodes into the series.
Likewise this series only picked up for me thanks to the lovely lighter moments where the main couple have fun together and when the brother in law was bonding with Gu Dong-baek or the sister reacting funny to the brother in law.
Those moments were just golden.
Luciely says:
Ahh, i have been meaning to watch Accidental Couple! But didn't have the time because of BL (:
Since I have read this I'll just go watch it now (or soon at least, ahh me and my lazy self!). Hehe, i'm sort of afraid of the first 8 episodes though. But, it's alright..I can make it through them!
Thanks for the blog thundie!!~
thanks for your wonderful insights… i enjoyed reading them. I have also became smitten with HJM after watching him in AC… i keep on going to dahee's blog because of all her wonderful, wonderful posts about HJM….
I loved Dong-Chul couple too.. I think that's when this drama really began to pick up. Sangchul started to brighten it by helping Jisoo get closer to Dongbaek.
And Hwang Jung-min… he was the reason I anticipated and watched this drama. This drama wouldn't have succeeded if GDB was someone else. He literally owned this drama. Hwang Jung-min's acting is just.. so.. refined, regardless of which role he plays. He never goes over the top in his acting, which is always just right. As much as I love YDG as my No. 1 actor, I sometimes have complaints about his acting, such as some of his own personal habits showing up too often when he's playing different characters, so he ends up showing too much of himself instead of a character he needs to become. I don't have such complaint toward Hwang Jung-min or Kim Myung-min.
Anyhow, I really hope HJM does another drama, hopefully playing more attractive and charismatic character and show the viewers how versatile he is. I suggest that you check out Blood Ties and Road Movie when you have chance. It's a joy watching him nail down every role he plays.
Oh, didn't know HJM's acting is at the same par as KMM… no wonder I fell for him… I fell so deeply in love with HJM while watching You are My Sunshine, he was so attractive and enchanting in that movie. Didn't know that he is in AC until certain chingu brought it to my attention. Thundie's lovely review makes me want to scout out this drama and I might do a two days marathon as well 🙂
P.s. Hi Thundie, where did the time go? Haven't visited your blog for a while…, I remembered not so long ago I visited here and it was hitting 7000+ and to date you have an audience reaching 40,000, whoa and congrate!
P.s.s. I always feel a bit more intelligent after visiting your site; I took a glance at your reviews on QS and BL and they are so intriguing… Btw, how many hours do you guys have per day that enable you guys to watch so many dramas, I only have 24 hours a day 😦
First thing first, off to hunt for HJM aka AC…
P.s.s.s. hehee, I love another HJM, the feminine one from Capital Scandal 🙂
unfathomablesisa says:
gah! i really cried watching this series. indeed, the main guy in this drama is a very effective actor. he managed to move me 🙂 i have tears of pain and joy from time to time.
Hi dahee, you're the one responsible for spreading the Hwang Jung-min virus, lol. Been gobbling up the Hwangfest on your blog since I finished AC. *muah!* You know, Dong-baek reminds me of Ko Boksu in Ruler of Your Own World. I remember wishing I knew someone like Boksu in my own life. Now Dong-baek gives me that same kind of longing. On one hand he's too good to be true; on the other hand he's such an everyman. I'm definitely buying Happiness.
Hi deeta, must confess I have no lingering impression of KAJ, whether serious or playful. When I think of AC now, only one person comes to mind! I love HJM in this role most. About Kyung-ae, I didn't mind her at first; she's just kinda ditzy. But I disliked her elevated role in the last 2 episodes. I just felt the whole thing was silly, but that's just me.
Hi Sparrow, sorry to keep you waiting for the BL recaps! I'll make up for it next week. I've not watched 200 Pounds Beauty, but I'll take your word that KAJ has fantastic comic timing. ^^ I'll try to watch that soon.
Hi Luciely, you'll breeze through even the first eight eppies of AC, I promise. HJM is just sooooo good he makes everything else bearable. I actually like him more in the first half; he was more his own person. Because the others were so bad, his acting stood out more for me.
Hi elise, isn't dahee the sweetest? I adore her to itty-bitty bits. All those awesome HJM translations!
Hi amy, love your comments on HJM and Yang Dong-geun. I have the same thoughts about YDG in Dr. Gang. I've been planning to blog about Dr. Gang (just first impressions), so I'll save my thoughts for that. But you're right: I didn't see his character in that drama, I saw only YDG.
Hi Janie, oh, did you forget my blog? *sob* I missed your comments! ^^ Last night my nose was so buried in my BL 19 recap, I didn't realize I had crossed the 40,000 mark until I published the post and could take a breather. I still remember when I reached 4000 hits; I was so excited I even took a screencap of the event, lol. Anyway, no matter how many more hits I get, I'll not forget when I first started this blog (in Jan this year) and was getting like 20 hits a day. That'll keep me humble.
Hi unfathomablesisa, oops, I don't remember crying while watching AC. Maybe a teeny bit. I guess I was just too mesmerized by HJM. Every second watching him I wanted to pinch myself. He was so fantastic!
Hi, Thundie
Love your blog.
Similar to you, I fast forwarded a lot until about episode 8, then I was hooked.
I loved Kim Ah-joong here so much that I went back and watched "200 lb beauty" that I put off watching, then watched close to 200 episodes of "Peculiar Woman, Peculiar Man" starring Kim Ah-joong.
I think you'd like her acting there as well. The story (PWPM) is essentially all about her, and she practically carries the drama.
One thing that you didn't make a comment about, and I confess that was the reason why I came to this blog, is the final kissing scene between KAJ and HJM. I kept looking for the same passion as I found in "All About Eve" and "Resurrection" kisses, but it felt like she didn't really wanted to kiss him and that she was just going through the motion. Did you feel that way? Am I too spoiled to expect such kiss excellence in kdrama?
Hi Michael, I've just realized I have not answered your questions. Sorry!
Must confess I don't remember that final kiss in AC at all. I don't even remember the kiss in Resurrection! In both dramas the two male leads are so splendid, they overshadow everyone else including their female co-lead, lol.
I did not fastforward AC, not even in the early episodes. That might cause me to miss a HJM moment! I actually rarely use the FF button. The drama must be extremely awful and exasperating for me to do that. 🙂
erickang says:
Lol, I am stil wondering how the earth this movie been made!!! It is so..so.. accidental!!! Anyway, HJM is fantastic, not just in term his personal acting only, but the way he is capable of lifting the whole drama to the other scale. That's what we call a brilliant actor! He kinda remind me of Mr.Bean. But, I do believe he is much more capable and mobile. KAJ too deserved some credit, the way she sang the song…. Arg.. WONDERFUL!! But, I think the most important thing she wanted to deliver is that we human really can change to become a better person regardless of who you are. KAJ, you deserved to be lauded beautiful now!! The drama itself really change my perception towards life2! In the bottom my of heart, I'm now starting to believe a lot of wonderful things now, like GDB said "there are not necessary bad things happened in this world". It has given me lot of strenght and encouragement. Now I do believe that sometimes a loser win. HAHA. Man, I'm tears now. Blushed…. Tq, The Accidental Couple!
lettle says:
I just finished watching it and oh how I fell hard for Mr. Hwang Jung Min. He was totally awesome in this drama. The more I watched the more enthralled I became. I've seen Bittersweet Life but don't remember him. I guess I'll have to go and rewatch that to see more of his awesomeness(is that even a word! LOL). At this point I am a total fan girl of Hwang Jung Min and I'm going to try my best to watch all of his movies(but not the scary ones)
He made Goo Dong Baek such a loveable character and you couldn't help but root for him not matter what.
The first time I ever saw Kim Ah Joong was in The Bizarre Bunch(which was my very first korean drama) and she was so fiesty in that and in this at least in the beginning she was so subdued! It took me awhile to get used to the soft spoken high pitched voice of hers. For a while it really irked me, but as her character got stronger so did her voice and it didn't bother me so much.
As you said Thundie around epi. 8 was when things really came together and the chemisty was truly there. I was worried in the beginning because it seemed like the spark would never ingnite.
Loved the whole Dong Baek and the Swallows. Too cute and funny! I really expected them to be horrible.
This is a drama that I throughly enjoyed!
Thanks Thundie that was the perfect review for Accidental Couple!
Khaycee says:
Time and time again I always return to what pulled me back to watching Kdrama. Accidental Couple is my favourite kdrama of all time! I watched it so many times even my kids knows what to say when they say it! I thought Gu Dong Baek pulled it all for me! He was my bait and he got me hooked! He was excellent till the end! An honest character and a sincere approached fit perfectly!
hillbenjamin says:
Well it looks like I got a late start on this drama but still. A favorite for me and so far the most realistic. If you subtract that it would never happen part lol. Still, everything else was great and on pair.
The problems I had with the series. I explained away later after further review. Kim Ah Joong's character was cold in the beginning but what famous person wouldn't be in that situation.
Hwang Jung-min character made a few hard to believe decisions. Like ditching Kim Ah Joong's character and going out to eat with his co-worker. It would have been easy to tell her then what he told her later but didn't. Storyline needed it to happen.
Anyway I thought all the actors and actresses gave a outstanding performance. Hwang Jung-min and Kim Ah Joong really out did themselves and drew you in the story.
Never have I heard a bad guy say so little and had me despise him more and more, each time I saw him lol thank you Joo Sang-wook.
As for Lee Chung-ah, I have to say well done. She did a OUTSTANDING job keeping the atmosphere light and bubbly. Also keep it everything fresh with her antics lol
I had to say Kim Ah Joong character was hard to love in the beginning because of her standoff personality to the situation. I'm glad they broke her shell later and let her character really shine.
At the end it was almost ruined by her saying no to Hwang Jung-min's character. Over the renew contact of Joo Sang-wook's but she quickly shifted gears and was back on track.
I didn't think any Korean Actress was ever going to steal my affection more then Lee Dae Hae had but I was proven wrong by Kim Ah Joong.
She has a honesty and warmth, that's hard to miss. And when you see her smile, it hard not to feel the heat. It's a rare girl that can show you everything you want to know about her, by just looking at you. I'm aware she's human, with human faults. But I have faith my stalker instincts will kick in and clear those up lol.
Hwang Jung-min… That man is the only person I'd call Superman other then Christopher Reeve. I've never been disappointed by his performances and this drama is no exception.
The chemistry him and Kim Ah Joong had was really amazing. I ate up all the scenes that they had together. Although his character was frustrating at times. Like that stupid co-worker thing, that happened.
Still the man has a presence of warm and understanding that you can't miss.
Well in the end I'd see it again and I will see it again. Which I've never done before. But later, I have to catch up on my favorite girl *Kim Ah Joong* first lol


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Larry David Spills on the Reason for His Divorce (Video)
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" honcho reveals the secret to a thoroughly miserable relationship
Tim Kenneally | June 17, 2011 @ 5:28 PM
Now, this late-night talk-show exchange is pretty, pretty, pretty good.
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" honcho Larry David dropped in on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Thursday night to jawbone about a number of topics — including his 2007 divorce from ex-wife Laurie.
Also read: 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Season 8: HBO Teases July Episodes
Leno broached the subject bluntly, asking, "Whose fault was the divorce?…Who screwed up?"
After cautioning the ample-chinned host that he was "being very disrespectful," David went on to offer an oh-so-respectful explanation for the split:
"Well, she thought that it would be nice to have sex with someone she liked. She wanted to try that. And I said it's not a good idea. Because you never wanna have sex with people you like. You can't have good sex with people you like. Doing those things. And then you're supposed to talk to them?"
David clearly missed his calling as a relationship counselor…
Hit up the video and check out the yadda yadda below.
Larry David in Negotiations to Play a 'Three Stooges' Nun
By Joshua L. Weinstein | May 2, 2011 @ 4:27 PM
Larry David Pretty, Pretty, Pretty Happy With Tax Cut
By Tim Molloy | December 21, 2010 @ 9:14 AM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Simply Punjabi
Minister of state Maharani Preneet Kaur is a fine representative of the people of her constituency.
Seema Bhalla
ISSUE DATE: March 1, 2010
The path to the hallowed halls of the Indian Parliament is not an easy one. But Member of Parliament Preneet Kaur, known to the people of her constituency as Maharani Sahiba, is currently serving her third term in Parliament. Kaur, 65, is an icon in Patiala and the only MP from there to be elected to Parliament three times consecutively.
And for all her achievements, her start in politics was made quite late, and unexpectedly. "The first 14 years of my married life were devoted to my husband, children and the family. Now I like to give my time to public service," she says.
Kaur with her parents and siblings
Kaur's journey has taken several unexpected twists and turns. Kaur's father, an Indian Civil Services officer, was posted in Bengal when she was born. This led to her being given a Bengali name with the meaning 'sweet tradition'.
Kaur, the oldest of three siblings, says her childhood was the happiest time of her life. She grew up in a large extended family. She recalls the carefree times, spent in the ancestral home of her maternal grandfather, Sir Joginder Singh, in Simla. He was not only a politician of great standing, but also a visionary who emphasised on educating girls.
At her wedding
He made sure that the women in his own family were very well educated. "We did not have great wealth in material terms but we had the wealth of values imparted to us by the elders of the family," says Kaur, with pride. She continues to value the stability that her family support system offered her early on.
At a very young age Kaur was sent to a boarding school in Simla, when her father was posted in Ferozepur. Her whole extended family began visiting Simla during the summer, and frequented the hill station very often. For Kaur, this meant spending more time with the family. "I was a boarder for one term and a day scholar for one and a half terms, and enjoyed the best of both," recalls Kaur. The young Kaur also looked forward to her winter vacations, when she went to stay with her maternal grandparents at their farm in Punjab. They were a great influence in her life.
With her husband, mother-in-law, daughter, son-in-law and grandchild
Kaur was married soon after she finished her college. "I knew nothing about Patiala and had never visited it." An uncle of Kaur's future husband, Yuvraj Amrinder Singh, had proposed the matrimonial alliance. Kaur was 20 years old and Singh 22 when they married in 1964. The coy bride then took her first step into the portals of the royal family of Patiala. The early transition into her new life was rather easy, Kaur says. "I was very comfortable in my new house as everyone gave a lot of space to every member of the family." Then her daughter, Jai Inder Kaur, was born in 1966, followed by son Raninder Singh in 1967.
Once her children began attending school, Kaur took her first step into her future career. She was requested to help the Red Cross at the welfare section of the local hospital. Initially, she went once a day but after sending her children to boarding school (following the family tradition), she started spending more time with the social cause.
Kaur and Singh on the day after their wedding
"I used to drive my Fiat car myself in order to accommodate one more woman in place of the driver," she says. Kaur's association with the grassroot level connected her to people who loved having her among them. Her future role was slowly but surely being scripted. Still, the campaigning she participated in, in 1966, for her husband, was no indication that one day she herself will be at the helm of affairs. As she recalls, "I think everything I did during that campaign was wrong. But that was when I connected with people."
Her campaigning for her own candidature much later, in 1998, was undertaken during the grueling hot and humid months from April to September. She ended up with badly burnt skin and dehydration, but, she says, "The love of the people kept me going and encouraged me further." In fact, she realised the gravity of her achievement only after watching herself on TV. "After the first day in Parliament, while watching the evening news, I was astonished about knowing the proceedings beforehand. It then dawned on me that I had been present in the Parliament on that particular day."
Today, the adoration this MP receives from people is something she deeply cherishes. "People call me 'Maharani Sahiba' out of respect for my family and traditions, but I am absolutely at ease with being addressed as Mrs. Preneet Kaur."
The first woman to receive the prestigious Sikh of the Year award, in 2009, at the House of Lords in London, Kaur is, first and foremost, the people's choice. She looks forward to serving them with sincerity, dignity and forbearance. She is grateful for everything she has experienced, and says, "Life is like a painting. If there is no light and shade in it, then it is not a good painting."


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Home Foreign News 'No anonymous sources,' Trump scolds, after White House use them
'No anonymous sources,' Trump scolds, after White House use them
President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
BY JULIE BYKOWICZ
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump used his first presidential appearance before the nation's largest gathering of conservative activists on Friday to sharply escalate his criticism of the news media and take direct aim at the use of anonymous sources. Reporters "shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name," he declared, just hours after members of his own staff held a press briefing and refused to allow their names to be used.
"A source says that Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible human being, let them say it to my face," Trump told the Conservative Political Action Committee. "Let there be no more sources."
Members of Trump's White House team regularly demand anonymity when talking to reporters.
Trump said he wasn't against all the press, just "the fake news media or press."
"I'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources," he said. "They shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name."
The president has chafed at a number of anonymously sourced stories, including numerous reports describing contacts between his campaign officials and the Russians, which the White House has sharply disputed.
"The fake news doesn't tell the truth," Trump insisted. "It doesn't represent the people. It will never represent the people and we're going to do something about it."
It was a triumphal return to CPAC for Trump, who was warmly welcomed by a crowd that loves pushback against the mainstream media.
After his broadside on the press, Trump turned to a recitation of his agenda, promising bold action on health care, trade, energy policy and more.
READ OPEC moves to cap Nigerian oil output, boost compliance
"One by one, we're checking off the promises we made to the American people," he said, telling the group "I will not disappoint you."
Trump told the conservatives the health care law he inherited from President Barack Obama threatens to bring about "total catastrophe," reiterating his promise to repeal and replace it.
While conservatives aren't always in sync with Trump's views, they're happy to have a scrapper in the White House who's often on their side.
"How good it feels to have somebody lead our country who knows how to fight," American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp told the crowd in introducing Trump.
Trump recalled his past visits at CPAC with nostalgia, saying he'd first appeared with no notes and little preparation and gotten a strong reception that helped to put him on the path to the presidency.
"I loved the commotion. Polls went through the roof and I wasn't even running, but it gave me an idea," he said.
Six years ago Trump stepped to the CPAC stage as the "money, money, money, money" chorus of his reality TV show theme song blared. The crowd was less than adoring, occasionally laughing and booing the former Democrat.
Although Trump returned in ensuing years, he was notably absent last year. ACU chairman Schlapp said the presidential candidates were asked to participate in a question-and-answer session, but Trump had wanted to make a speech.
He did show up in 2015, however, a few months before he announced his candidacy.
"I am really inclined. I want to do it so badly," Trump said about the likelihood he'd run.
READ Rwanda sacks 200 police officers on corruption allegations
Now, CPAC is largely the Trump show – "TPAC," White House counselor Kellyanne Conway called it.
Schlapp said Trump will be the first president to address the group during his first year in office since Ronald Reagan in 1981. He called that a "huge sign of respect."
In his first appearance, Trump tried to burnish his conservative credentials with assertions that he is prolife and anti-gun control, while heaping praise on himself and his business acumen.
And he appeared to test-drive the "make America great again" phrase that would become his 2016 presidential campaign slogan. "Our country will be great again," he said. He trademarked that phrase in 2012, just after Mitt Romney lost to Obama.
He told the skeptical crowd: "I have a reputation for telling it like it is. I'm known for my candor."
An angry audience member shouted: "You have zero chance of getting elected."
Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report. —
Follow Julie Bykowicz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bykowicz
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Best Snorkeling In Key Largo, Windlass Wreck On Molasses Reef
The Windlass Wreck gets her name from her highly photographed 10 foot long iron winch located at spectacular Molasses Reef.
This, along with some ballast, mast pieces, and a few of her gears are the few remnants you'll discover at this Key Largo diving site.
This 3 masted wood schooner is actually the remains of the 1,100 ton Austrian Slobodana which sank in 1887, 3 years after being built.
Today, the resting place of this shipwreck is just east of the Molasses Reef Lighthouse between M7 and M8.
Two factors were critical in her eventual sinking. First she had grounded on one of the Florida reefs. The repetitive motion of waves and tide continually pressed the ship against the sharp coral. This in turn caused lacerations to form in her wooden hull.
The second important factor was her aforementioned cargo. She was returning to Reval which is now Tallinn in Eston after a visit to New Orleans and her cargo was 4,500 bales of cotton.
Of course cotton is very good at absorbing moisture, and once the water began to seep in, the cotton began to expand. Not only did the cotton increase in size, it increased in weight. This caused the ship's sides to bulge.
Between the outward pressure being exercised on her damaged hull, and the extra weight she was now holding, the ship finally broke and sank.
Thanks to Steve Singer, author of "Shipwrecks of Florida", published by Pineapple Press, he was able to uncover additional information about this Florida shipwreck. One point of interest is that her correct name was Slobodna, not Slobodana.
Also according to Steve Singer's research, he uncovered information about a temporary judgement or interlocutory decree that Judge Locke out of Key West made in terms of the salvage from this wreck.
Judge Lock's decision for the salvagers was 25% on dry cotton, 33 1/3% on partially wet cotton, 40% on cotton taken from 6' of water, 50% on the balance and 45% on materials saved for a total of $53,000.00.
Winch Hole At Spectacular Molasses Reef
www.en.wikipedia.org., J. Stuby
As anyone who's been diving Key Largo knows, the Slobodna couldn't have picked a more beautiful final resting place. Molasses Reef is one of the most spectacular Florida Keys diving sites you can explore. In tribute to one of her more recognizable remnants, a place on Molasses Reef has been named Winch Hole.
If you're scuba diving in Key Largo and plan a dive trip to the Windlass Wreck, you'll be impressed by the tremendous display of coral, ocean sponges, tropical fish and juvenile game fish.
However, it's not just the color and quantity of the marine life around you that's exceptional - it's also the clarity of the water. This Key Largo diving site is blessed by it's proximity to the Gulf Stream which flushes the area and keeps the water brilliantly clean.
The combination of ultra clear water, abundant, colorful marine life, and shallow water to about 23 feet, anyone Florida Keys snorkeling is also able to enjoy a dive trip to this wreck site.
Windlass Wreck aka Slobodna aka The Winch or The Winch Hole - Schooner - 170'
Molasses Reef, 6 miles southeast of Key Largo FL
GPS Co-ordinates
25 01.00N 80 22.53W
Between mooring buoy 7 and mooring buoy 8
20' - 25'
Mostly disintegrated except for the winch, masts, and a few gears.
Snorkel Site
Spectacular Key Largo snorkeling site
Molasses Reef is one of the most dived reefs due to the extensive coral and marine life. Brain, elkhorn, boulder, and star coral, sea fans, sea whips, red rope sponges, barrel sponges, angelfish, grouper, yellowtail, sea turtles, spiny lobster, crabs, parrotfish, blue tang, moray eels, sharks, spotted eagle rays
Without question, this is one of those Florida Keys diving or snorkeling sites you don't want to miss. Here you'll have the opportunity to examine the wreckage of a once glorious schooner while enjoying one of the world's most beautiful, and captivating underwater areas.
Windlass Wreck


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By The Numbers: As The World Cup Teams-fresh - Mid-overs > Cricket News, cricinfo, mobilecric, cricbuzz, livescore and more
Cricket news - In Numbers: How the World Cup Teams fare - The middle overs
Kohli and Rohit have a great record between overs 11-40.
With the World Cup in the horizon, Cricbuzz - in a three-part series - investigates how the teams have fared at various stages of an ODI match in the current World Cup cycle (since April 2015), namely Powerplay, middle overs, and death overs. You can read about the Powerplay phase here.
Next up, the middle overs (11 -40).
The one format whose future ICC has been deeply concerned about for a considerable amount of time is the 50-overs one. The middle overs were the biggest point of concern as it was the most sedate phase in an innings. They tinkered with the rules of the format multiple times in the previous decade, like distributing the mandatory fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs to the middle phase, allowing lesser number of fielders outside the 30-yard circle and the use of two new balls which would help the ball to maintain its hardness and enable batsmen to score faster.
The ODI rules went through a turbulent phase between 2005 and 2015, before settling in on the current set coming to effect from July 2015. ICC did away with the catching fielders in the first ten overs, got rid of the five-over block of batting Powerplay, and reinstated five fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the last ten overs of an innings.
The dynamics of the middle overs game turned around completely in the last four years - from being the most sedate phase of an innings to being perhaps the liveliest phase. The T20I-sation of the 50-over game has affected this phase noticeably. England have been at the forefront of the batting revolution by packing their middle order with big hitters. It took a while for the bowling fraternity to respond to the challenges posed against them and the eventual response came in the form of wrist spin - sticking to the old and effective adage that taking wickets is the best way to restrict the scoring.
Teams batting in overs 11 - 40
Teams have managed to score at a better clip than they do in the Powerplay with the rate of dismissal roughly remaining the same. England once again lead the batting parameters as they did in the Powerplay, scoring at nearly run-a-ball at an average runs-per-dismissal which is dwarfed only by India. Their three opening batsmen - Alex Hales, Jason Roy, and Jonny Bairstow - all score at a strike rate in excess of 100 in the middle overs after getting well set in the first ten. They all have relatively low balls per dismissal, but it hasn't deterred them from their 'throwing caution to the wind' approach.
Their middle-order batsmen Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler, all score better than a strike rate of 90, with Root trading higher balls-per-boundary ratio for a lower dot-ball percentage. While England's fast-paced approach has reaped rich dividends for them in recent times, there are a few notable exceptions of them getting bowled out well inside the full 50 overs, especially when conditions are not conducive for expansive shot making.
Despite England being the frontrunners of the new approach in the middle overs in ODI, no side has dominated this phase as much India, be it with bat or ball. They score at 5.54 per over and lose a wicket every 10.2 overs - two overs more than the next best and about 19 balls more than the global average. This is the phase where two of their best batsmen, arguably two of the finest ODI batsmen of the era, thrive and prosper.
Leading run-getters in overs 11 - 40
Virat Kohli is the leading run-getter in this phase, scoring 3186 runs - more than 700 runs ahead of second placed Root - at an astonishing average of 91.03 and a strike rate of 98, getting dismissed once every 93 balls. Rohit Sharma, his vice-captain, has done one notch better - 2257 runs at an average of 112.85 and a strike rate of 103, getting dismissed once every 109 balls - nearly thrice the global value for rate of dismissal.
As mentioned in the Powerplay piece, once Rohit gets past the initial ten overs, it's often tough to dismiss him. He has been dismissed inside the Powerplay 36 times in 71 innings but out of the 35 times he survived the first ten overs, he batted through the middle overs and made it to the death overs ten times. This is part of India's strategy where the top three - Shikhar Dhawan completing the trio - bats the bulk of the overs to set up the platform for the lower order comprising of Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav to explode in the final ten. In the 50 matches which featured the trio together, they have faced nearly 62% of the total deliveries India batted.
Teams bowling in overs 11 - 40
The one ilk of bowlers that have dominated the middle overs are wrist spinners. The top nine wicket-takers in the middle overs are all spinners with seven of them being wrist spinners. Adil Rashid is the leading wicket-taker in ODIs in the last four years with 127 wickets, of which 97 have come between overs 11 and 40. Rashid Khan has been nearly unplayable as his figures suggest - 80 wickets at 17.29 and a wicket every 28 balls, even though a large chunk of his wickets have come in largely helpful sub-continental conditions against weaker opponents, unlike something that he would be up against in England in June.
India, the doyen of spinners, were reluctant to buy into the wrist spin approach in the beginning and preferred the tried and tested duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to do the job as they did for the previous six-odd years. The inflection point came in the finals of Champions Trophy at the Kennington Oval in June 2017 when an unfancied Pakistan side beat the pre-tournament favorites India to lift the trophy. The Ashwin-Jadeja duo conceded 137 runs from their combined 18 overs and failed to pick a single wicket in that match.
In the tour to Sri Lanka that followed, India rested (read dropped) both Ashwin and Jadeja and opted for the inexperienced duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. In the final ODI of the series, India fielded two specialist wrist spinners in the playing XI, something they'd never done in the 900-odd ODIs before. There was an immediate impact - in the 32 ODIs India played since April 2015 till the final of Champions Trophy 2017, they had bowled out opponents 12 times (five of those were against Zimbabwe) and in the 54 ODIs since, they did so on 23 instances. The number of 300-plus totals they had conceded came down from 12 in 32 games, to seven in the 54 matches since.
Kuldeep has picked 67 wickets at 23.01 while Chahal managed 51 at 28.51 with the economy rates reading 4.67 and 4.81 respectively. India's overseas series wins in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia were all on the back of the strong performances in the middle overs by the Kuldeep-Chahal pair. The duo has complemented each other well as the numbers testify. In the 27 matches which both featured, Kuldeep has essayed the role of the wicket-taker with Chahal often being the one who keeps it tight at the other end. Kuldeep's average in middle overs improves to 21.85 from 25.75 in the matches he bowls alongside Chahal.
While the wrist spinners have flourished in their trade in the last 48-odd months, the left-arm orthodox spinners have turned out to be a more restrictive option, often used as a defensive foil to the attacking wristies at the other end. Mitchell Santner, Shakib Al Hasan, Ravindra Jadeja, Imad Wasim, and Axar Patel - the leading left-arm orthodox spinners - have made sure batsmen find it hard to score runs off them, even as the wickets have been hard to come by.
The pitches across the world of late are habitually flat in nature, and with little assistance from the track for their variations to come in to play. Credit to them, it must be said that this kind has found out a way to remain relevant thanks to their ability to put brakes on scoring by bowling tight lines in addition to being useful lower-order batsmen.
Talking about seamers in the middle overs, the two most successful pacers in the middle overs in the last four years are Pakistan's Hasan Ali and England's Liam Plunkett. 44 of Ali's 77 wickets in this period have come in the middle overs, a stat that made him a vital cog in Pakistan's success in the 2017 Champions Trophy. Ali was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 13 wickets, of which nine came in the middle overs, where he conceded at just 3.09 runs per over.
Plunkett was the mainstay of England's bowling in the middle overs with his cross-seam variations before his returns dwindled in the last 18-odd months - 32 wickets at 34.84 till December 2017 and ten wickets at 48.30 since.
Leading wicket takers in overs 11 - 40
South Africa have done fairly well with the bat in these overs across the four-year period but there has been a severe dip post AB de Villiers's retirement. South Africa's runs per wicket in middle overs of 45.83 till December 2017 has nosedived to 33.49 in the 16 months since and they lose a wicket every 38 balls since 2018, compared to 50 in the period before.
All the middle-order batsmen strike at a rate of well below 90 - Faf du Plessis 89, David Miller 85 and JP Duminy 75 - and they are still finding ways to plug the AB-sized hole in their middle order. De Villiers had a strike rate of 101.58 in the middle phase and had the rare ability of striking frequent boundaries (Balls per boundary 10.00) along with turning the strike over (Dot ball % of 39.67).
Barring a reversal against India at home in early 2018, South Africa have done fairly well winning 16 of the 21 ODIs since De Villiers called it a day, including bagging all the five series they played. It is the bowlers paving the way for their success in this period, with the likes of Imran Tahir and Kagiso Rabada being instrumental in taking wickets in the middle overs. Tahir has taken 71 wickets at 28.68 (ER 4.53) while Rabada has 37 victims at 27.78 (ER 4.65) in the last four years, and the duo is coming into the World Cup with impressive IPL outings behind them.
New Zealand's batting numbers can be largely attributed to the batting colossus in Ross Taylor, towering above most other batsmen in this phase. He has been in vintage form in the last four years, averaging nearly 69 with the willow, only behind that of Kohli's 78. The middle overs are his fiefdom where he averages 91.96 and gets dismissed only every 111 balls. He is the anchor around which the rest of the batting revolves as testified by the stat that Taylor averages 50-plus per partnership with each of the other New Zealand top order batsmen who made it to the World Cup. With Kane Williamson and Tom Latham batting either side of Taylor, they have three good players who can play out spinners in the crucial middle phase - a rarity among non-Asian teams.
However, New Zealand have struggled to replicate their PowerPlay success with the ball in the middle phase. They average 38 in this phase and concede at 5.39. While Santner has been good at controlling the flow of runs, his 44 wickets have come at 40.25 apiece. Leg spinner Ish Sodhi has also struggled for wickets, taking only 30 wickets at 40.70 apiece and goes at 5.44 per over. All their seamers - Boult, Southee, Henry and Fergusson - average more than 30 runs per wicket and concede at more than five-an-over between overs 11 and 40.
Pakistan's numbers are similar to New Zealand but the problem for them in the middle overs has been the similar kind of batsman stacked up together in one line-up. Babar Azam (SR 83.56), Shoaib Malik (86.12), Mohammad Hafeez (85.54) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (80.42) are all middle-over accumulators. They lack an enforcer in the middle overs among the plethora of sedate players mentioned above. Imam-ul-Haq does redeem himself from a slow Powerplay start where he strikes at 62, going up to 91.40 in the middle overs. He has been dismissed in this phase only seven times out of 15 innings (Balls per dismissal - 121.3) making him the anchor of the line-up. Pakistan would be served better if they can separate Imam and Babar from batting together as both play the same kind of game which often results in a slow-moving scorecard.
The top left of the graph is mostly top order batsmen who are the anchors in the sides which explain their low strike rate traded for a higher balls per dismissal. One exception here is MS Dhoni - who bats predominantly at five and six. Among the 46 batsmen facing 1000-plus deliveries between overs 11 and 40 since April 2015, Dhoni's strike rate of 68.22 is only ahead of Asghar Afghan (63.01). While Dhoni's 'start slow and take the game deep strategy' works well in low scoring games or if the team loses wickets upfront, it could prove detrimental to the team's cause in games where teams score big, which is more the norm than exception in white-ball cricket these days in English conditions.
The bottom right is mostly either opening batsmen or big hitters - a combination of high strike rate and high frequency of dismissals. While pinch hitters have gone out of fashion in ODI cricket, the strategy of promoting batsmen like Glenn Maxwell, Thisara Perera or James Neesham, who can use the long handle up the order in the middle overs, could help to upset opposition's plan of bowling spinners through the middle overs.
The top left is restrictive bowlers who aren't predominantly wicket-takers, and this is the range where most of the left-arm orthodox spinners occupy. The bottom right is bowlers who get wickets but can be expensive while the bottom left consists of the best of the bowlers. Wrist spinners like Adil Rashid and Adam Zampa have given their respective teams breakthroughs in the middle overs despite leaking runs.
The bottom left is the cream of the bowlers - the wicket takers who are hard to score off. Plenty of wrist spinners find themselves here, making them invaluable assets in the present day ODIs. Teams like Bangladesh and West Indies have often lagged behind because of the lack of quality spinners at their disposal who can make or break a game in these middle overs, while Afghanistan has been well served by the impeccable duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.
** All stats updated till 30 April 2019
(Part three of this series will explore how India's well thought-out strategy of maximizing the balls faced by the top three makes a difference in the death overs, especially when one of the three bats through the innings)


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Koovs PLC – Koovs Completes Strategic Agreement with HT Media
by AIM Editor
Further to its announcement on 18 June 2018, and as also set out in the circular posted to shareholders on 16 July 2018, Koovs plc (AIM: KOOV) is pleased to announce that it has completed its agreement for a £24.0m media deal with strategic partner HT Media Limited, one of India's largest media companies and owner of the Hindustan Times. The agreement has been updated to be over a four year period rather than a two year period (as previously announced), and also in regards to the mix of shares and cash used to satisfy the deal (further detail set out below).
The Agreement will, in aggregate, provide Koovs with £24.0m of media and advertising services from HT Media. Pursuant to the Agreement, HT Media has agreed to subscribe for £17.1m (previously £16.8m) of new ordinary shares of 1p each in the capital of the Company, and Koovs has agreed to commission further media and advertising services from HT Media for £6.9m (previously £7.2m) in cash.
The net effect of the Agreement is that, Koovs will acquire four £6.0m tranches of media from HT Media at yearly intervals over a four-year period. £4.28m of each instalment will be satisfied by the issuance of new Ordinary Shares to HT Media, with the balance of £1.72m to be acquired by Koovs in cash.
On 21 August 2018 and under the first tranche, HT Media has subscribed for 42.84m Ordinary Shares at 10p per Ordinary Share. The Subscription is conditional upon, inter alia, admission of the Subscription Shares to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange plc. Application for Admission will be made following receipt of the subscription monies from HT Media. The Company will release a further announcement in due course. Subsequent tranches will be conditional on, inter alia, the agreement of both parties and will be priced at the lower of:
The average of the mid-market closing price per Ordinary Share of the Company for the three month period prior to the date of closure of such tranche; or
The price per Ordinary Share received by the Company on the most recent cash fundraising of the Company closed during the three month period prior to the date of closure of such tranche.
Mary Turner, Chief Executive of Koovs, said: "We are delighted to have concluded this deal with HT Media, one of India's most influential media companies. The Agreement will give us premium exposure in further building the Koovs brand and will provide us with an important platform to support our future growth in what is the world's fastest growing economy."
KOOV
Other News from this Company
Koovs PLC - Second Quarter Trading Update
Koovs PLC - Preliminary Results and Trading Update
Koovs PLC - Future Group Further Funding
Koovs PLC - Trading Update
Koovs PLC - Interim Results
More posts: KOOV


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Chad Cherry Interview
Posted on December 7, 2011 by Ruben Mosqueda in Uncategorized // 0 Comments
CHAD CHERRY INTERVIEW:
Websites: thelastvegas.com – www.facebook.com/thelastvegas
Interviewer: Ruben Mosqueda
The Last Vegas made their first appearance on Sleaze Roxx back in May of 2009 when their album 'Whatever Gets You Off' was reviewed. The CD received critical acclaim from rock critics and fans alike, even going on to take first place in the Sleaze Roxx Top 10. In June of that same year I had the pleasure of speaking with The Last Vegas frontman Chad Cherry, who was very excited about the band's touring plans, their involvement with Eleven Seven Music, shooting music videos and the positive reviews that their album had received.
Fast forward to November 2011 when I caught up with Chad Cherry again to catch up on all things related to The Last Vegas. Since I last spoke with Cherry & Co. they had toured with AC/DC, Buckcherry, and Motley Crue; shot several video clips for 'Whatever Gets You Off'; toured some more; and finally, started work on a new album. As a teaser for their upcoming full-length, The Last Vegas released an EP entitled 'The Other Side' on November 22nd via CM Distro. 'The Other Side' contains five tracks, produced by Chicago based Johnny K who recently worked with Megadeth on their new album 'Th1rt3en', highlighted by the three hard rockers "The Other Side", "Evil Eyes" and "It Ain't Easy" and an interesting video for the title track starring B-movie Queen Sybil Danning.
Sleaze Roxx: 'Whatever Gets You Off' was released by Eleven Seven Music, which has ties to Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. Are you still signed with them?
Chad Cherry: Well, we signed a one record deal with them. We are currently working with Century Media who have released the EP 'The Other Side'. It sounds like we may do something with Eleven Seven in the future, but I don't have too many details. At the moment all communication has been done via email. Century Media, if you're familiar with them, are a kick-ass heavy metal label.
Sleaze Roxx: So is 'The Other Side' a teaser to set up the new album coming in 2012?
Chad Cherry: Our approach is similar as to how you'd release a movie — you can take the EP as the trailer for the movie, or in this case the new album. Right now we are hoping to have the album in February (2012). We'll be in Europe at that time, but we hope to shoot another video so we can use it as ammunition for our European tour.
Sleaze Roxx: 'Whatever Gets You Off' was partially produced by the band and the other half was produced by the team of Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba and Marti Fredriksen…
Chad Cherry: Yeah, we had recorded those tracks by ourselves. Then Nikki discovered us and he loved the record, so we remixed the album and we cut 4-5 new songs with Marti, DJ and Nikki in Burbank, California.
Sleaze Roxx: Did they influence the direction stylistically of the new songs you cut with them?
Chad Cherry: No, not at all. We refined some of the tunes — I'm not married to a song, so I'm open to hearing ideas that would make a song better.
Sleaze Roxx: You brought in Chicago native Johnny K to produce the EP and the upcoming full-length album. It's an interesting pick since he's better known for his work with bands on the heavier side.
Chad Cherry: Johnny's a great dude, we were excited to work with him being that he's from Chicago and we're from Chicago. He does a lot of heavy metal, but he does a lot of other stuff too. Sometimes people get branded as a 'heavy metal guy' or as an 'active rock guy', that might have happened with Johnny but he's so much more than that. I bring up his name to other musicians and they turn white! (laughs) I think that's because he runs a pretty tight ship — he's not afraid to let musicians know that their music isn't going to work out. I think that's why they turn white because that kind of thing messes with them a little bit.
We had a great time working with him. We'd sit and talk in the studio for a little bit then get to work. We ran rampant in the studio for about a year which was, as I said, a lot of fun and probably very expensive! (laughs) We worked with one of the best in the business and that's how we see it. It was also good for us, I think, to get another perspective on songwriting from Johnny. If we're working with pretty good people — it's going to be really good record.
Sleaze Roxx: On 'The Other Side' you've tweaked the sound a little bit — not too much, but you can hear that you've evolved as a band. This isn't contemporary rock, but it's also not a complete throwback like the last album.
Chad Cherry: I think the last record that we did had a little bit of that throwback sound to it… I guess, I'm just going by what other people have said. I just think that anything we've ever done is the sound of us being stuck in the '70s — I don't understand the '80s throwback that people have mentioned. I think as long as people are talking about us its fine by us.
I think the new record is much rawer — more punk rock. I think that's the best way to describe it. When we write music we write very catchy hooks and I think this will be very apparent on the new record.
Sleaze Roxx: Your vocals on 'The Other Side' sound great — there are some nice high notes on there that bring Sebastian Bach to mind.
Chad Cherry: Thank you. That's an example of me working by myself, as Johnny wasn't there at all during the time I was doing my vocals. I've worked with my guitar player Adam Arling on vocals on just about everything that we've recorded and he'll let me know if it didn't sound good… or if I'm not happy with it I'll do it again. I'm hard on myself and I'll continue to work until I've got it right. Some of what we recorded came easy, other stuff I had to dig deep for, and other stuff I had to walk away from because I was pissed off at the time. The way I see it is, I don't know how anyone is going to give a shit about it unless I give a shit about it. You know what I mean?
Sleaze Roxx: The Last Vegas are no strangers to music videos. You've shot and released one for "The Other Side" where things take a turn for the worse for you guys in the video. There's a tie-in with the cover of the EP and you have a special guest in the clip…
Chad Cherry: I have a lot of friends who are in the B-movie genre. I had talked with Sybil Danning (featured in films such as Howling II, Halloween, and Werewolf Women Of The SS) about doing a video in the future. I worked with some friends who are in the business and we worked on this treatment for a new video. We wanted to do something that was little bit different — we went for something that was more cinematic.
I'm such a huge fan of horror films that Sybil was the first person I thought about when it came time to find a star for the video — I knew she could pull it off. Before I asked her we put out a want ad on a website for actresses to come to audition for the role. We received over 200 responses — this was even before I asked Sybil. We flew her out here and we let her know what we wanted to do and we had a great time. I think I can say this… we'll be working on another project together in the near future.
Sleaze Roxx: Another video or a film?
Chad Cherry: She won't be singing on anything because she has admitted that she can't sing! (laughs) She can act, she can produce, and she can direct. I'm not sure she'll be in the next music video, but we'll be pooling our resources and making another kick ass video. I think that last one turned out really well.


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Trump, Republicans Are 'Exploiting' Coronavirus To Ban Abortion, New Ad Alleges
In a new digital ad campaign, the abortion rights group NARAL is accusing President Trump and his Republican allies of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to restrict abortion access. The new six-figure digital ad campaign targets voters in several swing states.
Republican governors and attorneys general in states including Texas and Louisiana have ordered the suspension of most abortions during the pandemic as part of a shutdown of nonessential medical procedures.
Reproductive rights groups have persuaded federal judges to block or partially scale back those orders. But legal battles are continuing, and patients have been turned away in some states.
A new ad from the abortion rights group NARAL Freedom Fund features young women accusing the President and his allies of putting "ideology over science," and using the coronavirus pandemic as a pretext to "roll back the clock" on reproductive rights.
NARAL has said its political arm is spending nearly $35 million overall for the 2020 election cycle to target voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia, Iowa, and North Carolina. The group says it's focusing efforts this year on women and other persuadable voters who see reproductive rights as a motivating concern.
In a statement to NPR, Trump campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh said, "It's disgusting, but not surprising, that the extreme abortion lobby would try to use a global health crisis to promote the killing of unborn children."
Anti-abortion rights groups also are urging state and federal officials to restrict access to abortion during the pandemic.
Sarah McCammon is a National Correspondent covering the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast for NPR. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion and reproductive rights, and the intersections of politics and religion. She's also a frequent guest host for NPR news magazines, podcasts and special coverage.
See stories by Sarah McCammon


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Alumni Interview – Phoenix Manson
Thursday May 2nd, 2019 by Finley Roach
Phoenix Manson – Introduce yourself
Hey, my name is Phoenix Manson and I am a 19 year old artist/music producer from Melbourne. I make Hip Hop and R&B music that infuses an old school vibe with the modern new wave sound.
You graduated 18 months ago. Where are you now and what are you currently working on?
Just after graduating from Abbey Road I launched my first release called WAVELENGTH – EP. Two of the tracks from the EP were toplined by Charlotte Adele. Charlotte is another Abbey Road Alumni who has forged an awesome career for herself at Studios 301. Around the same time I became actively involved in the Melbourne beat making scene. I was a part of the Beat Collective Committee, running the fortnightly live streaming show on TRNSMT and playing shows in venues across the city.
Life in Berlin
About two months ago I relocated from Melbourne to Berlin. Mostly to start building a network in Europe and to explore the amazing electronic music scene here. At the moment I am working with a few rappers producing beats for their projects. I'm DJing regularly and getting ready to release my next single. I recorded it at Abbey Road Institute Melbourne before I moved over here.
Can you describe your roles and what you do in those different roles?
I guess my work can be split into two distinct roles – in the studio and on the stage. As a producer most of my time is spent in the studio making new music for my own project or for other singers/rappers. The other aspect of my job is traveling to different places as an artist to either play live shows or DJ sets. Over the past 6 months I have been really enjoying playing music in different environments and to different crowds.
How did you get into music production?
My music production began around the time I moved from Sydney to Melbourne in high school. I was 15 and spent most of my time on visual arts like painting, drawing and experimenting with film and photography. I told my mum that I wanted to be a graphic designer after high school and I remember her suggesting that I explore the other creative pathways (like music) before I make up my mind.
A lot of my friends at my new high school in Melbourne were into Hip Hop and they would have regular freestyle sessions and rap battles at lunch time. At this point I really started falling in love with the old school beats that they were using as a foundation to rap over and I got really curious how these instrumentals were made.
After doing some research I found that most of my favourite artists were using a piece of software called Ableton Live, so I downloaded the 30 day free trial and the rest is history!
What do you think the most important thing you've learned during your career since you have started?
That's a tricky one because I have learned so much. Probably the most important thing I have learned about the music industry over the past 5 years is to place value on your work. It's really important to know your worth and not be afraid to charge for the time and work you do. This is an idea that I have only really come to understand over the past 12 months but it is the main thing that has allowed me to turn this from a hobby into a full-time job.
At the moment there are far more people in the world consuming music and other creative content than there are people producing it and releasing it. This trend seems to only be increasing throughout the 21st century. So it is just a matter of finding a way to monetise what you do. I have found that 9 times out of 10 people are more than happy to pay for any piece of work you do for them whether it be editing a podcast or playing a DJ set.
What has your biggest challenge been during the start-up period?
The biggest challenge I have come up against during the first few years (and still deal with at certain times) is staying focused and dedicated to the same goal in the face of the social and financial pressures. Being told to get a real job is something I think all artists hear regularly during the startup phase.
When you first start a career in any creative industry it takes a long period of time to refine your skills and establish a name for yourself. This time is usually spent living on little or no income. It takes a lot of passion and strong commitment to persist through this period with no guarantee of success but I think for those who have believed in themselves and stuck it out, the hard work always pays off in one form or another.
Which skills are the most important during the startup phase?
The skills that have been the most important during this time have been staying flexible. Always being ready to adapt to new things (whether it be new opportunities, technologies or other external factors). In retrospect, there are so many goals that I have set and even though I arrived at the same destination. The path that took me to the end goal was so different to the one I had planned. I think it is really important to stay open minded to the things that are changing around you. You can't be fixed on an idea about the "right" way to achieve a goal because change is a constant.
What did you learn during your time at Abbey Road institute that helped you to get started on this journey?
The time I spent at Abbey Road Institute helped me transform my skills. I came from a bedroom producer who made music as a hobby to an audio professional. Being surrounded by knowledgeable and friendly lecturers paired with access to such a high-quality studio space. This meant I could ask questions, learn new skills and incorporate those newfound skills into my music every day of the week.
Also learning about the business and legal side of the music industry has been invaluable. It allowed me to set up my own business. I do my own marketing and negotiate contracts with artists and singers.
However one of the most beneficial skills for my journey so far is finding the confidence to network and collaborate with other artists and industry professionals. I think the community at Abbey Road really helps foster this in their students. It is a skill that I have now been able to apply all over the world.
what advice would you give to existing students?
If you are currently studying music production, my advice to you is to stay hungry. Always be curious. These two things are what keep you motivated and learning more. There will be certain points in your journey when making a name for yourself feels like a massive uphill battle. It's really important to stay motivated and positive while you endure these feelings of doubt.
When you start to get overwhelmed with how far you have to go to achieve your dreams just take a second to look back on how many of your dreams you have already achieved by studying at Abbey Road and how far you have come since you started this journey.
What are your next plans and steps?
Right now I am planning the release cycle for my new single called "Blame It On My Game". This single will drop next month. I had the pleasure of collaborating with the super talented singer/songwriter Mareya on this track and I am extremely happy with how it turned out.
This single will also be accompanied by a music video clip that we filmed at the end of last year. It was my first time writing and directing a video clip so I am super excited for it to launch. It's called Blame It On My Game (feat. Mareya) and will be available for streaming on all digital platforms on May 3rd 2019.
Keep in touch with Phoenix's latest releases by following him;
Alumni Interview – Emily Toner
Alumni Interview – Joel Robinson (Staygo)
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Colin has lived all over BC, from Tumbler Ridge, Abbotsford, Oliver, and Vanderhoof, finally settling in the Okanagan in 2000. Colin has always been active, having played a variety of sports including cross-country, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and rugby before focusing on football. Colin played on the Inaugural Mount Boucherie Football Team for three years, earning him a scholarship to UBC Vancouver. He later played for the Okanagan Sun. Beyond school and his own athletic career, Colin has helped coach high school football athletes.
Having been injured while playing, Colin realized his passion for learning about and applying training and recovery. Colin made the decision to switch degrees to pursue a career in Kinesiology. He studied Human Kinetics at Okanagan College and continued on to the University of British Columbia Okanagan, finishing his degree in 2017.
Colin has been a personal trainer for two and a half years and has worked with a variety of clients whose goals have ranged from weight loss, to rehab, to athletic development. He has experience working with sport specific as well as lifestyle programs. He continues to improve as a young strength coach by continually furthering his education in his field. Colin believes that a strong foundation for health and performance is built by forming good habits of movement and nutrition.
He will coach you through your limitations until they become your strengths.
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Phoenix MI Maintains ISO/IEC 27001 Certification & Provides Clients with Highest Level of Information Security
Global Advertising and Brand Specialist Phoenix Marketing International (Phoenix MI) has announced that they have completed an annual third-party audit and continue to maintain the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification, the only international standard for information security management.
ISO 27001 establishes information controls to manage people, processes, and technology. The standard covers the technological aspects of security, as well as corporate and physical security, and enforces regular risk assessments to help companies identify and treat security threats. ISO 27001 is accepted worldwide as an assurance that proper and continual measures have been taken to protect valuable company data.
"Amid these troubling times, providing our clients with the highest level of information security and privacy is one of our top priorities," said Allen R. DeCotiis, Ph.D., Chairman, and CEO of Phoenix MI. "We understand that now, with so many of us working from our homes, maintaining this high standard of information security management is more important than ever".
"We are proud to once again be one of the few market research companies to be recognized and maintain this global standard and will continue to work diligently to ensure we provide our clients with the highest standard of security and quality," adds Scott Spry, Chief Operating Officer of Phoenix MI.
To achieve ISO certification, Phoenix MI engaged in an in-depth risk assessment, a comprehensive review of all information security policies and procedures, and internal audits. As a further step in the validation, the company's information security management system was assessed by a third-party auditor who thoroughly reviewed Phoenix MI's documentation, practices, and controls.
The certification was awarded by CIRQ, a subsidiary of the Insights Association, in collaboration with the Professional Evaluation and Certification Board (PECB), a global provider of audit and certification services.
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Sexual violence in serial form: Breaking Bad habits on TV
Stuart Joy
Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) attempts to isolate, degrade, exploit, frighten, and control his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) are tactics that are well-documented in studies focusing on abuse. Yet, despite the representation of both implicit and explicit forms of domestic abuse and sexual violence throughout Breaking Bad (2008–2013), there is an apparent disconnect between how this behaviour is perceived on screen and how it is ostensibly regarded in society. It is here, at the intersection of audience reception and sociological theory that I argue Breaking Bad represents abuse as part of a broader negotiation of masculinity, one that contributes to the ongoing marginalization of women's voices in both visual media narratives and, by extension, society. In particular, I argue that despite the series' long-form structure, the lack of emphasis placed on instances of coercive control by the writers and directors is partly responsible for contributing towards a culture of misogyny and victim-blaming fostered by fans towards Skyler evident in numerous online blog posts, fan forums, social media platforms, and Anna Gunn's own treatise on the portrayal of her character in the New York Times.
Feminist Media Studies
Dive into the research topics of 'Sexual violence in serial form: Breaking Bad habits on TV'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Violence Engineering & Materials Science 100%
Sexual Violence Arts & Humanities 87%
Abuse Arts & Humanities 63%
sexual violence Social Sciences 59%
habits Social Sciences 59%
Habit Arts & Humanities 58%
abuse Social Sciences 51%
stuart.joysolent.acuk
Solent University, Faculty of Business, Law and Digital Technologies - Senior Lecturer in Film & TV
Joy, S. (2017). Sexual violence in serial form: Breaking Bad habits on TV. Feminist Media Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2017.1396484
Joy, Stuart. / Sexual violence in serial form : Breaking Bad habits on TV. In: Feminist Media Studies. 2017.
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In: Feminist Media Studies, 20.11.2017.
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AB - Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) attempts to isolate, degrade, exploit, frighten, and control his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) are tactics that are well-documented in studies focusing on abuse. Yet, despite the representation of both implicit and explicit forms of domestic abuse and sexual violence throughout Breaking Bad (2008–2013), there is an apparent disconnect between how this behaviour is perceived on screen and how it is ostensibly regarded in society. It is here, at the intersection of audience reception and sociological theory that I argue Breaking Bad represents abuse as part of a broader negotiation of masculinity, one that contributes to the ongoing marginalization of women's voices in both visual media narratives and, by extension, society. In particular, I argue that despite the series' long-form structure, the lack of emphasis placed on instances of coercive control by the writers and directors is partly responsible for contributing towards a culture of misogyny and victim-blaming fostered by fans towards Skyler evident in numerous online blog posts, fan forums, social media platforms, and Anna Gunn's own treatise on the portrayal of her character in the New York Times.
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Sahib Shihab and Gilson Unit - La Marche Dans Le Désert
French avant garde classic originally released in 1972 on the cult independent jazz label Fortuna, now reissued by Souffle Continu records. Though not as far out, It makes for a great companion piece to the aforementioned Le Massacre Du Printemps released only a few months previously on the same label. Here Jef Gilson is back behind his keyboards heading up his Unit, who were joined by Sahib Shihab, the revered American saxophonist who had previously played with Weston, Gillespie and Coltrane, and had at the time settled in Europe. To mark this special occasion, he put aside his baritone saxophone to play a soprano varitone (on 'Mirage I' and 'Mirage II'. The amplified instrument, while losing nothing of its natural sound, was capable of generating the same presence as Gilson's electronic keyboards. To make things even more interesting, Gilson and Pierre Moret (usually behind his organ) took turn playing the Ondioline, an electronic keyboard invented in 1941 but apparently never used before in a jazz set-up (it has an unusual feature: it is suspended on special springs which makes it possible to introduce a natural vibrato if the player moves the keys from side to side with his playing hand, resulting in an almost human-like vibrato). And it would change the face of modal jazz: in a forest of percussion, Shihab and Gilson go on a sensual stroll in the desert, the caravan passes by, evoking Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane as much Pierre Henry and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Truly unique stuff. Lovingly remastered from the master tapes, the sound on this vinyl reissue is absolutely spot on and dead quiet, which is essential with such music that uses a lot of quiet/loud dynamics. Much more than an oddity, this real treasure of spiritual / modal jazz which has now become more widely available, some fifty years after its original release.


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President Sandu promulgates law to provide by 1,000 lei a month to children under two
https://www.ipn.md/en/president-sandu-promulgates-law-to-provide-by-1000-lei-7967_1092452.html
President Maia Sandu promulgated the amendments to the law by which a monthly allowance of 1,000 lei for looking after children up to their age of two was introduced, IPN reports.
This way, as from October 1, the state will provide a monthly allowance of 1,000 to all the children under two, either their parents are socially insured or not. In the case of socially insured parents, the new allowance of 1,000 lei will be paid in addition to the child benefit that is now paid according to one of the three payment variants.
Over 63,000 persons will benefit from the allowance. "We want all the children in Moldova to grow up in safety and affection and to enjoy the conditions needed for developing," said President Sandu.
The law is part of the "Family" Program that was recently launched by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection in a move to support the children and families with children in Moldova.
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