Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Lowly And The Invincible Of The Earth



Bethlehem Shoals did me the great honor of leading the farewell to Freedarko piece on Monday. In it, I wrote, as I often do, of finding meaning in sportsmen beyond the final score, “You can touch on the genuine, and even if your impressions may not be Truth, they are honest and meaningful to you, and that is ultimately fulfilling enough to care about losing battles and defiant last stands that are, still, play.”


I was thinking, largely, of Erik Morales’ performance on Saturday night, though to call such a thing play is borderline heresy.


Because did you see him on Saturday night? Did you see the old warrior? My, but wasn’t he something up there? All sinew and pride and meanness and an ancient soldier stripped raw. Wasn’t he a holy terror? For certain men there is the impossible, but for others, the rare and special and profoundly moving, there’s something beyond that, where results are impractical, beside the point.

Could you really define what happened on Saturday by 10s and 9s? If you could, well, you’re no friend of mine. Because what we saw was a Ronin loosing his blade at the last, a defiant prince from the age of heroes, a last-chance gunfighter smiling as he loaded his final rounds.


And goodness, but it was moving. Because I’ve known Erik Morales for so long, and I know what it meant to him. I watched him when he was the master. A man skilled enough to coast to easy victories but incapable of stepping away from a challenge. “Yes,” he might say, “I can whip you my way, but I’ll whip you your way as well. I’ll do it for the sheer joy of being a master and a man and fully in control of my faculties.”


Though I’ve never hidden my love for Pacquiao, Morales’ victory over him in their first fight was one of the most profoundly moving sporting events I’ve ever witnessed. The man just seeps machismo and desire and contempt and superiority.



“I come,” he says, “from a culture of fighters.” And that’s who he is to the last. A fighter. Look at his face here and you can see a man in full. Because it was lunacy to take that fight against Marcos Maidana. Lunacy to face a bigger stronger man. But he did it anyway. And he sang as he slew and hewed and he did it for the simple reason that there wasn’t anything else that he could ever have done, because it was the only thing he could do with a face like that –the stonevisaged pride of the Captain of the Guard from the Age of Bronze.


He did it for love. Yes, love, which is pride, which is love of the self.


I was recently sent spinning by a passage from Faulkner, from the story Tomorrow. It reads, “I knowed he would be honest for the same reason: that there wasn’t nothing in his country a man could want bad enough to learn how to steal it. What I seem to have underestimated was his capacity for love. I reckon I figured that, coming from where he come from, he never had none a-tall, and for that same previous reason – that even the comprehension of love had done been lost out of him back down the generations where the first one of them had had to take his final choice between the pursuit of love and the pursuit of keeping on breathing.”


I, somehow, after all we had been through together, underestimated Morales’ capacity for love. Because on Saturday night I left before the main event. I got into my car and put my foot on the gas and went to see an indie rock band that I mildly like, because I didn’t believe that the warrior king’s heart could still swell.


And I almost made it to the show. I almost made it, but then I thought about him, that stonevisaged king and his pride and I turned around and I came home.


And I saw it, right there in front of me. The capacity of a man at the last throw, the final throw of the dirty diceman. And what a gift it was.


Because it’s not about 10’s, and it’s certainly not about 9’s. Is it?

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Viann Zhang Xin Yu

Viann Zhang Xin Yu, Viann Zhang Xin Yu photo, Viann Zhang Xin Yu picture, Viann Zhang Xin Yu gallery< br/>
Name: Zhang Xinyu ???

English name: Viann Zhang

Nickname: Swallow ??

Date of birth: March 28, 1987

Place of birth: Jiangsu Kunshan, China

Height: 169 cm

Weight: 49kg

Measurements: 89 (F cup) 61 88 cm

Horoscope: Aries

Blood Type: AB

Profession: Actress, singer, model


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Viann Zhang Xin Yu photo, Viann Zhang Xin Yu picture, Viann Zhang Xin Yu gallery



Viann Zhang Xin Yu photo, Viann Zhang Xin Yu picture, Viann Zhang Xin Yu gallery



Viann Zhang Xin Yu photo, Viann Zhang Xin Yu picture, Viann Zhang Xin Yu gallery



Viann Zhang Xin Yu photo, Viann Zhang Xin Yu picture, Viann Zhang Xin Yu gallery


Koo Hye Sun

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Last Name: Koo

First Name: Hye Sun

English Name:

Ethnic Name: ???

Ethnicity: Korean

Date of Birth: November 09, 1984

Place of Birth: South Korea

Height: 163cm

Weight: 42kg

Blood Type: A

Profession: actress


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Koo Hye Sun is a South Korean actress. She has recently become more popular after her starring role in the popular movie "Pure in Heart." She also sang the title song for the popular movie. Her popularity began to rise after a cameo as a beggar in the movie "August Rush." She has been in a number of movies before the two above mentioned films, but these were the films that seemed to have jump-started her career. Koo Hye Sun has also appeared in a number of TV shows, including "Drama City," "The King and I," and "Boys Over Flowers." Along with acting, Koo Hye Sun has also dabbled in directing, writing and illustrating, and singing. She has appeared in a number of music videos and has released one singing album. In addition, she has written a book called "Tango" and has directed a short film called "A Cheerful Caretaker," both of which received lots of praise and a few awards. In addition, she illustrated the cover of an album put out by Gummy in 2008.



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Saturday, April 2, 2011

Rena Tanaka

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Rena Tanaka (田中 麗奈, Tanaka Rena?, born 22 May 1980) is a Japanese actress and TV personality. In 1999, she won the Japanese Academy Award for 'Best Newcomer' for her performance in Give It All; in 2001 she received a 'Best Actress' nomination for Hatsukoi.

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Selected filmography


* Give It All (1998)



* GTO (1999)



* Hatsukoi (2000) aka First Love



* Drugstore Girl (2003)



* Legend of Nin Nin Ninga Hattori (2004)



* Waiting in the Dark (2006)



* Gegege no Kitaro (2007)



* Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (2007)



* 10 Promises to My Dog (2008)



* Mōryō no Hako (2008)



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Boa Kwon


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Birth name 권보아
Kwon Boa
Born November 5, 1986 (1986-11-05) (age 24)
Kwon Suong-Dong (F)
Sung(成) Young-Ja (M)
Origin Guri, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Genres Pop, dance, electropop, electronica, R&B
Occupations Singer-songwriter, composer, dancer, model, Actress, voice actress, Record producer
Years active 1999–present
Labels SM Entertainment (South Korea)
Avex Trax (Japan)
SM Entertainment USA
Associated acts SM Town, Verbal, M-Flo, Anyband



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Boa Kwon (Korean: 권보아, Kwon Boa, born November 5, 1986), commonly stylized and known by her stage name BoA, which is a backronym for Beat of Angel,is a Korean singer, active in South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Born and raised in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, BoA was discovered by SM Entertainment talent agents when she accompanied her older brother to a talent search. In 2000, after two years of training, she released ID; Peace B, her debut Korean album, under SM Entertainment. Two years later, she released her debut Japanese album, Listen to My Heart, under the Avex label. On October 14, 2008, under SM Entertainment USA, a subdivision of SM Entertainment, BoA debuted in the United States with the single "Eat You Up" and released her debut English-language album, BoA on March 17, 2009.


Influenced by hip hop and R&B singers such as Nelly and Janet Jackson, many of BoA's songs fall into those genres. As the singer feels she does not "have any talent for writing [songs]",the writing and composition of her songs are handled mostly by her staff; for this reason, she has drawn some criticism.(Though only a few of her songs are self-written, BoA began composing on her own with her Japanese debut album Listen to My Heart, in which she co-wrote and composed the song "Nothing's Gonna Change".) However, BoA began writing her own songs for her 6th Korean album, Hurricane Venus.


BoA's multilingual skills (she speaks Japanese and conversational English along with her native Korean and has recorded songs in Mandarin Chinese) have contributed to her commercial success in South Korea and Japan and her popularity throughout East Asia. She is the only non-Japanese Asian to have three album selling more than one million copies in Japan and is one of only two artists to have six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon charts since her debut.



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Friday, April 1, 2011

Leah Dizon

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Birth name Leah Donna Dizon
Born September 24, 1986 (1986-09-24)
Las Vegas, Nevada,
United States
Genres R&B, pop
Occupations Gaijin tarento, singer, and gravure idol
Years active 2006–present
Labels Victor Entertainment



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Leah Dizon (リア・ディゾン, Ria Dizon?) (born September 24, 1986) is an American-born gaijin tarento, singer, and gravure idol in Japan.Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, she moved to Tokyo, Japan in 2006 to pursue an entertainment career and made her recording debut on Victor Entertainment later that same year.




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Leah Donna Dizon was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 24, 1986. Her mother is of French descent and her father is half Filipino and half Chinese. Her parents work as casino dealers.Dizon is the fourth of six children: she has two older brothers, an older sister, and two younger brothers. In an interview, she explains that she grew up listening to rock and R&B music and trained in dance.Dizon has said that her mother was "very strict and monitored [Dizon's] spending habits". When she was 14 years old, she worked at a clothing store and eventually saved enough money to travel to Japan alone for a trip.



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She attended the private Las Vegas Academy Of Performing Arts for her freshman and sophomore years but graduated from the public Eldorado High School in 2004, where she became active in theater.At the age of 18, Dizon relocated to Los Angeles, California and attended college as a film major for her freshman year.



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While living in Los Angeles, Dizon worked as a promotional model for local car shows. Eventually, her photographs were posted online. It was reported that there were 2 million Google hits within an entire year, with the majority of the viewers being located in China and Japan. Much of the attention received was attributed to her unique looks; she was asked by many Japanese fans—who had seen her photographs—to work in their country, which eventually prompted her to submit several demo tapes and dance videos to Victor Entertainment. An agent offered and signed her to a recording contact.


n March 2006, Dizon moved to Tokyo and began Japanese lessons alongside voice training. She released her first photobook, Petite Amie (which means "girlfriend" in French), in October 2006—Petite Amie was ranked as the third best-selling photobook of 2006 and 2007.A few pictorials for various magazines followed.


Dizon made her musical debut under Victor Entertainment on February 14, 2007 with the single "Softly".This was followed by "Koi Shiyō" (恋しよう♪?), and "L・O・V・E U".which also peaked at #7 on the Oricon Weekly Chart. The title track is described as a "grooving, up-tempo dance song" and the single features 2 B-sides: "Could you be that one?" and "Aishiteru~ Love Story" (アイシテル~ Love Story?).Koi Shiyō was used in a Lotte TV ad, while "Could you be that one?" was featured in a PlayStation 3 Ninja Gaiden Sigma TV ad, with Dizon starring in both commercials. In September 2007, Dizon released her debut album, Destiny Line, under Victor Entertainment. The CD+DVD Edition contains 14 tracks, 10 of which she penned herself on the single PVs alongside a special album PV "Again and Again". The CD Only Edition contains the digitally-released remix of "Koi Shiyō", called "Koi Shiyō♪ (Yasutaka Nakata-Capsule Mix)".


After the release of Destiny Line, Dizon continued with two singles: "Love Paradox" and "Vanilla" (both 2008). Her second album, Communication!!!, was released on August 2008."Under the Same Sky" was used as the theme song for the Japanese drama Tokyo Prom Queen. She made a guest appearance on the show as Naomi, the prom queen from the previous year.


In a September 26, 2008 blog post on her official website, she announced that she was engaged to Bun (分, Bun?),a Japanese stylist whom she had met while shooting "Love Paradox" seven months before. Additionally, she wrote that she was expecting her first child in late April of the following year on her official website.On October 10, 2008, the couple married in a traditional Japanese ceremony.These initial stages were chronicled and announced during her Communication!!! Album Tour several days after the marriage. Dizon was quoted as saying, "I have important news to tell you. I have actually got married! I'm pregnant, too. My family and I are very happy. Now, I think they'll have a lot of difficulties and changes. Of course, it is a little scary. But also, I am interested and looking forward to beginning a new life."The couple's daughter, Mila (美蘭, Mira?), was born on April 24, 2009.On February 14, 2010, Dizon appeared on live television and discussed making cookies for Bun. Subsequently, she confessed that their relationship had been aversive ever since the birth. That same month, she was featured in a spread for Glamourous Magazine, where she discussed motherhood and her hopes to return to the entertainment industry. It was her first magazine cover in nearly two years.On October 30, 2010, she confirmed news reports that she and Bun had separated and filed for divorce earlier that month, and she is currently seeking full custody of their daughter. According to Dizon, the split was due to "busy schedules and inability to meet regularly differing opinions toward raising children" alongside "irreconcilable differences".