The "Must" List: Girls On Fire Edition

Forehand Policy's usual round-up of a few must read/see/view things that you guys (as in the five people who read my blog) might find interesting.

*I've watched this video about 789594 times already and it still makes me cry every time. Lea Salonga's performance of "Still Hurting" is haunting, heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time.

*Oh yeah. Hillary Clinton is finally on Twitter. Her profile is genius:
"Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD..." Obviously, this would not be possible without the guys from Texts from Hillary, who also got a shout out from Madam herself. 

*You want a tennis cat fight? We'll give you a tennis cat fight. Our pre-Wimbledon off-court main event is Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova and Round 1 has just started. The sad thing is this would probably end in another Pova shellacking should they meet for the Wimbledon final in two weeks time. (Pova hasn't beaten Serena in 9 years.)

*On a lighter note, let's check out what our favorite female tennis players wore at the WTA's pre-Wimbledon party. Fortunately, Ana Ivanovic, a perennial fashion hit and miss, dressed according to her beauty and wasn't a victim of a fashion fail. 

*Good girl gone bad? Read this intriguing story of why a seemingly straight and honest agent betrayed the US Homeland Security for a notorious Mexican drug cartel. After Homeland and The Americans, this is another theme worth exploring on tv. 

*I think any sports fan can relate to Patricia Lee's piece from Grantland's NBA Shootaround:

With the clock winding down and the Heat amassing what seemed like an insurmountable lead, I found myself negotiating with the basketball gods, or the devil, whichever would work. I promise I won’t curse at Tony Parker again if you just let the Spurs take this one. I promise I won’t make fun of Manu’s bald spot again if you just gift him with another 3. I promise I’ll stop questioning Pop’s coaching decisions and clock management if you just make this last possession count. I promise, I promise …

In the end, it was no use, of course.

There’s no way to avoid destiny, no way to make Danny Green score, no way to help Tim Duncan make that hook shot that he must’ve made a billion times. There’s no way to stop a hot-handed Shane Battier, no way to combat a ready King James, no way to turn the tide just because you feel like the team you’re rooting for deserves to lift the trophy.

...

It’s a strange feeling when the player you love most from your alma mater is playing against the player you’ve watched and loved your whole life. When one makes a 3, the other gets a dagger to the heart. When one misses a hook shot, the other is one step closer to the ultimate goal. It’s not winning or losing, not happiness or sadness. It’s a mélange of all of these things. It makes for an easily combustible bubble of emotion, one that is difficult to comprehend, to marry, one difficult to come to terms with. But I should’ve known that going into the series.

Chill, bro, it’s just sports. You’ll live. They’re not even your team, right?

But do you know what this feels like? To see one of your idols succeed at the expense of another? To see a team that deserved it so much lose to another that deserved it just as much? To see both teams go from miles ahead to inches ahead to, ultimately, just enough to cross the finish line? Somebody has to lose. And, somehow, that is why we all win.

The "Must" List: Only God Forgives

*Dear Ryan Gosling: Why are you so adorable?

*I've been addicted to @Longform for quite some time now. Let's just say that it's the main reason why I am not getting a lot of sleep these days. If you're on Twitter and you absolutely love reading longform non-fiction stuff, Longform is a must follow. Some of my favorites: Love and Madness in the Jungle, The Mind of a Con Man, Al Gore's Golden Years and A Murder Foretold (this should at least be made into a movie), among others.

*Chechnya =/= Czech Republic. What is happening, people?! *shakes head*

*Thanks for this, Paulo Coelho.

*Who needs the Avengers when you have Uncle Ruslan and Charles Ramsey?

*The next great Hollywood sports movie should come this list. Most compelling story in the list would've be that of Baron Gottfried von Cramm's. Nazis. Homosexuality. Tennis. Rebellion. What more can you ask?

*Buzzfeed + Foreign Policy = MFEO.

*CNN calls itself "The World Leader in News". After this and this, I am not so sure anymore.

*And we end this post with another golden quote from tennis star and self-help guru, Ana Ivanovic:

Ana's Oscar speech: "The funny thing as well is that it's all the time within you, you just have to find it. People will tell you things -
— Tumaini (@tumcarayol) April 26, 2013

if you wanna hear, you don't wanna hear. It's not until you find it within you that the confidence will come back."
— Tumaini (@tumcarayol) April 26, 2013

Quotes: Respect.

Do not ever underestimate my ability to find shit out.

— TED (@Laughbook) April 4, 2013

I don't think I need to be in the NBI/FBI/CIA/Mossad or get a law degree to sniff out fake social media accounts. Come on.

Did I just see a smile there?

Remember Haymitch's line in the Hunger Games about Katniss having as much charm as a dead slug? Well, some people make the same comment about Andy Murray. While Andy may not be as lively or vivacious as Jennifer Lawrence,  he's equally as adorable. I just love his Scottish sense of humor. To prove my point, I humbly present to you the following videos. They're marked as Exhibits A and B.

Exhibit A: Andy reveals that Roger Federer is not picky. He also says that he doesn't know if both Roger and Rafa (Nadal) read books. LOL. Priceless.

Exhibit B: It's nice to know that tennis players are talented enough to also have a career outside tennis when they finally get tired of it. Doubles players Jean-Julien Rojer and Colin Fleming could definitely give the hosts of E!'s Fashion Police a run for their money. It's pretty hilarious when they rib on Andy for the effort that he exerted in dressing up for the Indian Wells Players' Party. I also love it when they ask him about his tan (or lack thereof) and when they start giving him fashion advice. Oh and Andy, please. No more excuses on that pasty skin. Also, tie your shoes.

TGIF.

Nothing more awesome than welcoming the weekend with a video of Ryan Gosling giggling. As much as I would love to create a fake Mrs. Gosling account on Twitter, my inner self that is so totally against trolling prevents me from doing so. Anyway, giggle away, Goz. You'll always and forever will be the mascot of my blog site. 

The "Must" List: Words of wisdom

*Kinda bummed that there's no mention of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation in this video.

*It's becoming really hilarious now how often I see pictures of Roger Federer crying. Come on, guys.

*Jennifer Lawrence, hands down, is the biggest winner of the recently concluded Academy Awards.  After this, this, this, this and this, really, how can people not fall in love with her? (Even the IR guy that I follow on Twitter wants her to run for Congress.) Funny, down-to-earth and extremely charming, JLaw definitely won herself a lot of fans during Oscar night. Her ability to poke fun at herself is indeed very disarming. I do wish that some media outlets would stop calling her a "starlet" nowadays. Duh. She has several awards under her belt now, is the lead star of the Hunger Games franchise (which contributed to archery's massive popularity during the Olympics on US cable tv) and is the face of Miss Dior. JLaw has earned every right to be called a "star". Anyway, it's really great when someone who you started following because you found her hilarious in one interview almost two years ago hits the big time.

*From the video vault of awesomeness: Michelle Obama and Jimmy Fallon doing the "mom dance".

*Who knew that the way to Kim Jong Un's heart was Dennis Rodman? I'm still not giving up on my peace plan.

*Words of wisdom from Ben Affleck: "...you have to work harder than you think you possibly can. You can't hold grudges. It's hard but you can't hold grudges. It doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life, cause that's gonna happen. All that matters is that you gotta get up."

*Words of wisdom from Ted:

Shit happens. I mean, look at your face.
— TED (@Laughbook) March 3, 2013

Don't assume my tweets are about you. But if you’re affected by them, then that obviously means you’re guilty of something.
— TED (@Laughbook) March 1, 2013

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman. Then be Batman.
— TED (@Laughbook) February 28, 2013

Of trolls and cyberbullying

Required reading:

1) The Princess and the Trolls: The Heartrending Legend of Adalia Rose, the Most Reviled Six-Year-Old Girl on the Internet (Gawker)


I was particularly struck by the profile of one of Adalia Rose's trolls:

Sherburne used to believe in God, back when he lived with his grandmother, who raised him in the 700-person town of Grantsville, Maryland. "I talk to my dad on occasion, I don't care to talk to my mom," he told me late one Friday afternoon when I reached him over Skype, where an avatar of his round face showed up above the username "Some Faggot Named Carl." He went to high school in a place called Accident. "I hated it there," he said of North Garrett High School, where he was expelled at the beginning of his junior year. "Someone started a rumor that I had a hit list and a gun. They took me to a mental institution, took me to get evaluated, found out that nothing was wrong with me." Did he have a hit list? This is how he answers: "I was a little wannabe goth kid, I sat in the corner and cried a lot. There was nothing intimidating about me and they still kicked me out."

This newfound freedom allowed him time to care for his grandmother—his grandfather passed away in 2005 and confusingly left all the money to his previous wife; Sherburne's suicide attempt came in the aftermath—and to get a full-time job at a local McDonald's, where he worked until this past January, when he quit after almost six years. It also left him time for the Internet.

On June 2 last year, he uploaded to his YouTube channel a Beavis-and-Butthead-style reaction video of him and a friend drinking beer and watching "1 Lunatic, 1 Icepick," gory footage of the now-indicted murder suspect Luka Magnotta allegedly decapitating a man, then feeding the body to a dog, while a New Order song played. The New York Observer's tech blog Betabeat ran a screenshot of them watching the snuff film. Sherburne was thrilled, later writing online, "That was an exciting experience knowing that I hit the news and I was proud of it, I won't lie."

2) It happens. And it shouldn't. (Forty Deuce)

An excerpt:

The thing is, it's all well and good to tell the victims of online abuse to suck it up, grow thicker skin, and ignore the vitriol from complete and utter strangers. But the bottom line is that we're all fragile people and I'm thankful for the fact that at the time of this incident I was in a pretty good headspace. It was easy then to dismiss what was being said. But had I been in a different headspace, had I been in a depressive state or if it was a time of my life when I was genuinely questioning myself, my self worth, and my self-esteem, things could have turned out differently. 

Because that's the thing. You never know where the target of your anger, meanness, or viscious comments is at the moment they read your shit. What can be, at least to you, a critical but mild comment, could be the thing that sets someone off. It could be, in that moment, the absolute worst thing that person could hear. We can say "oh, you're being oversensitive" and "toughen up", but isn't that basically victim-blaming? I can't think that's the solution here. 

 ...

All in all, the topic of cyberbullying and its effects have been discussed quite a bit in my circle of friends.  We've come to the conclusion that it's just so easy to do and the only thing that stops people from engaging in it are (1) you don't have a "bully" personality, (2) you have better things to do with your life, and (3) you simply refuse to engage in internet meanness.

It's really surprising how much of a kick some people can get by creating a fake account online and using it to spread false and malicious information about other people. It's simply wrong and, sadly, even politicians and companies knowingly engage in trolling just to get ahead and ruin the reputation of their rivals. I just hope that people would be more discerning when reading things that are posted online instead of just jumping into conclusions and engaging in a herd mentality to unjustly bring another person or company down. 

Quotes: Can't stop laughing.

"Justin Bieber followed you" *stops breathing, falls off chair, screams, crys, jumps around the room* ... *clicks icon, fake account* TRUE.

— They call me Jerry (@JBsexykidrauhl) February 10, 2013

I love Roger Federer.

Some of my favorite RF-related things:

*That's ok. You can't win all the time anyway.

*Top 10 Roger Federer Verbal Jabs At at Andy Murray. I don't know where the hate is coming from. (Probably because of this.) Good thing Andy knows how to poke fun at himself.

*There's also this very funny fake RF Twitter account.

*Who doesn't love Sponge Bob?

*Genius at work. Shut up.

*Are they deporting him?

Quick hits

(Because I don't want to flood my followers' timelines on Twitter.)

*Just finished reading Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife and it's probably one of the best novels that I've read in a while. The story deals with themes such as war, death, family, myth, storytelling, superstitions, among others. I think the subplot that resonated the most with me was that of Luka's, the wife beater. While many of the characters in the novel deals with the death of a person, Luka had to deal with the death of his dream of becoming a famous musician. Here was a guy who knew from the very beginning what he wanted and suffered at the hands of his father because of it, only to return to their backward village later on as a failure and be consumed and ruined by his utter disappointment and heartbreak. This is a must read for those who are interested in Balkan history (and maybe even those who like Serbian tennis players ... sorry, the big tennis fan in me had to put that one out there). I also recommend it as well to fans of the magical realism genre.

*U.S. Anti-Doping CEO Travis Tygart, who is widely regarded as a hero for having tirelessly pursued Lance Armstrong and exposing him as a fraud, also came out with an interview on 60 Minutes to once again denounce Armstrong's lies during his confession to Oprah. Tsk, tsk. Some people just never change, do they?

*Also watched Gangster Squad. Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte and Emma Stone. Seriously, how can you go wrong with this cast? I wasn't really happy with it, though. The movie had a lot of potential, really, and could have been like Argo if the producers asked Ben Afflect to direct it and write the screenplay. Anyway, I would still recommend this movie to fellow Ryan Gosling lovers.

*Must watch Youtube videos: A Pep Talk from Kid President to You and Disney's Paperman.

Have a great week ahead, guys.

Quotes: Oh, the what-could-have-beens...

When you witness a silky-smooth game like that from Ivanovic, you can only wonder what might have been.
— Ed McGrogan (@EdMcGrogan) January 20, 2013

Uhm, like, 5 Grand Slam titles lost? (This is my blog so I have the right to be delusional.) So Ana just lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the 4th round of the Australian Open, 2-6 4-6. Radwanska was just serving like a GOAT (fantastic placing) and was not giving away a lot of errors. Ana, despite having a lot of chances, just couldn't serve well and hit winners consistently. Sigh. Call me (maybe) crazy but I really do believe that Ana Ivanovic is still capable of winning Grand Slams (yes, with an "s"). I don't know when but there's reason to hope after seeing her play this past couple of weeks. (For a short history of how really, really good she was and her struggles from 2008 onwards, click here.)

The "Must" List: Baby Bump Gap

Forehand Policy's usual round-up of a few must read/see/view things that you guys (as in the five people who read my blog) might find interesting.

*Giggling Ryan Gosling = Official Mascot of my blog site.

*So what does make the US a world superpower? Definitely not it's military power or its economic might (duh!) but the likes of People, Us Weekly, Star Magazine, Perez Hilton and the National Enquirer. Take that, North Korea.

*I really pride myself for my choice of absolute tennis faves (even if they don't win a lot). I love you, Andy Murray.

*Looks like everyone's excited for the Australian Open.

*Dear China: please please please be nice to us Filipinos. Want to know why? Because it pays to be nice in international politics, according to Steve Walt.

*Seriously, Ryan Lochte. Can't you just be on The Bachelor or Dancing with the Stars?