My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is a 2016 American romantic comedy film directed by Kirk Jones and written by Nia Vardalos. The film stars Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Andrea Martin, Ian Gomez and Elena Kampouris. It is the sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which was released in 2002.

It’s 17 plus years after the events of the first movie and Toula & her husband Ian are the proud parents of a 17 year old smart daughter Paris, who is embarrassed by the suffocating attentions of her parents and extended family. Her travel agency and the family dry cleaners are closed due to the recession, and the only business still open is the restaurant that Gus, her father, owns. is now the principal at the school their daughter Paris attends, and Paris is preparing to leave for college. With all the smothering and Gus trying to find her a Greek boyfriend, Paris wants to go away to college. an and Toula find their marriage strained because Toula has the same obsessive drive to “fix” whatever goes wrong in her family, due to her daughter treating her like she no longer needs her and her family constantly asking Toula to do it, causing her and Ian to find little time for each other.

Meanwhile, Gus has ridiculously convinced himself that he is a direct descendant of Alexander the Great and wants an online ancestry site to confirm this. While sorting through his paper records, he discovers that his wedding certificate was never signed by the inexperience priest who married him and Maria 50 years ago in Greece. He is frustrated when his current priest refuses to just sign the paper, but is willing to renew their vows so their marriage can be “legal.” Maria scoffs at Gus’ insistence that they must marry again after fifty years together, but agrees to do it if Gus proposes to her properly. Gus refuses. Meanwhile, Toula tries to go on a date with Ian to try to rekindle their romance, but are unsuccessfully caught kissing in their car in the street by their family. Later on, Gus slips in the bath tub due to his bad hip; Toula calls an ambulance for Gus. When he needs to go to the hospital Maria refuses to go with him because she isn’t his wife, and he makes a public plea for her to marry him again. This time she agrees.

Maria wants the wedding she always wished she had and hired a wedding planner who quits due to constant madness surrounding her. The whole family, including Ian’s parents, Rodney and Harriet, and Angelo’s business partner, Patrick, pitch in to make it happen. Nick and Toula eventually realize that Patrick is also Angelo’s romantic partner, and welcome him into the family. Gus’s estranged brother, Panos, flies over from Greece for the ceremony as a surprise. Paris has been accepted by Northwestern University in Chicago and NYU in New York City. She begins to understand the intense love her mother has for her, and leans toward Northwestern. She changes her mind after sharing a moment with her great-grandmother and realizing she really wants to go to New York. She asks Bennett, a boy she has watched from afar and has crush on, to the prom, and he turns out to be Greek and has an equally crazy Greek family of his own. Prom is the same night as the wedding. Toula decides for Paris to go prom and promises to attend the reception later. On the way to the church, Gus, Panos, and Taki drink shots of ouzo and by the time they make it there, the three men are already drunk and stand giggling before the altar.

Maria is escorted down the aisle by Nick but storms off to the dressing room on seeing Gus drunk and giggling, seemingly not taking the wedding seriously. Panos tells Maria that the reason why Gus invited him to the wedding was because he confided to him as evidence of his love and need for her, and the ceremony takes place as planned. Ian and Toula watch Gus and Maria recite their vows, while Paris and Bennett slow-dance at the prom and share their first kiss. At the wedding reception, Gus receives a note from the ancestry site verifying that he is indeed a descendant of Alexander the Great. Ian then realizes and tells Toula that she forged it to make her father happy. The movie ends with the entire family dropping Paris off at her new college dorm in New York.

Though not as good as the original and having too many similar over-exaggerated jokes and situations that are more intune with the short lived sitcom, I still enjoyed this film on a night I was recovering from a fever. I will give it a 6.5 outta 10!

Fever Ruined Plans

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So due to Labour Day which falls on a Monday tomorrow, I was so looking forward to a nice event filled three day weekend. Don’t you just love three day weekends? So much more time to enjoy the good things in life, watch tv, watch movies, sleep in, go out and meet friends, eat some good food and drink some beer or go to the mall, watch a movie on the big screen, hang out and come in late. I was planning all that but alas, no!

I woke up on Saturday feeling a big ill and even 2 cups of coffee couldn’t get me upbeat. I planned to alter my plans and go out in the evening for some pizza or beer and food with my cousin. However by 12pm I knew that I was not going to be able to sit up for long and by 1pm it was a fever. Not too high or raging but still a fever with joint pains all over my body. I went to bed at 1pm and by 3pm I took some Paracetamol and slept for 2 hours in between catching up on my tv show episodes for the week.

By 7:30 I got some coffee and stayed up to watch some more tv shows and a movie which, being a comedy, made me feel a bit better and then went for a long sleep. This morning I feel better but won’t be going out. I could go out in the evening but there’s football that I want to watch so I will stay in tonight as well. Monday I plan to go out.

Musical Marker

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We all have songs that remind us of specific periods and events in our lives. Twenty years from now, which song will remind you of today?

I guess I haven’t really found songs for just today but if you ask me about the past month, I guess it will have to be the song “Drifting” by Andy McKee. It’s because of me changing processes at the job, attending an interview process and getting through and looking forward to the new challenge. Also a friend at work, who I am close with, is moving from this industry, the only one she has ever worked in, and moving to another. In a sense we are drifting a little bit.

Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com

Kerala’s Burger Hut

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I went to a Burger Hut for the first time yesterday afternoon. I had heard of this little chain of burger joints for a few months now. Apparently they have 4 outlets in Cochin if I am not mistaken. Kaloor stadium, Ayyappankavu, Padivattom & Kakkanad. That’s 4 outlets that have sprung up in quick time. How have they managed to open 4 outlets, granted that these are small places with minimal seating – the one I went to have 4 tables inside and a couple more outside in their patio.

I chose to go and check them out for a late lunch yesterday on my way to work. The prices are very good, down right cheap if you compare them to almost every place that serves burgers. I ordered the Jumbo cheesy beef, a medium fries and a Pepsi. The burger and fries came to less than Rs.200! Seriously? Ok, but the proof as they say is in the pudding. How will the burgers look and taste? The takeaway menu looks great but when have burgers looked like they way that they are shown in the ads and in paper menus?

15 minutes after I ordered a server brought my red tray with a Pepsi can, a styrofoam bowl filled with fries that came with a small cup of mayo. French fries and mayo? Why not and it was ok, fries were decent but nothing great and the mayo tasted a bit like butter. 2 minutes later came the burger which looked nothing like the menu one. I did not like the bun which was hard on the outside and the burger patties weren’t anything great. They looked a bit too overdone as well though there was plenty of cheese. Overall I’d say it was a 7 maybe a 7.5 outta 10. But wait! For that price? Jumbo cheesy beef is just Rs. 120 and a medium fries comes to Rs.55. Less than 200??? For that rate I will give it a 9. They have a variety of burgers and a few subs. And they deliver. I will frequent them and I hope they do well and their burgers improve in quality. Ignore the menu pics as you know….photoshopped and all that!

RIP Vinod Khanna

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Veteran actor and Gurudaspur MP Vinod Khanna passed away on Thursday in Mumbai after battling cancer. The actor had been ailing for long recently. Vinod Khanna acted in lead roles in many superhit films and is best remembered for his performance in films like Mere Apne, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Gaddaar (1973 film), Jail Yatra, Imitihaan, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Inkaar, Kuchhe Dhaage, Amar Akbar Anthony, Rajput, Qurbani, Kudrat, Dayavan, Kaarnama,Suryaa: An Awakening and Jurm. After making his debut in 1968, Khanna first acted in small second lead roles or negative roles. His angry young man role in the superhit movie Mere Apne, his negative role as the main villain in the superhit movie Mera Gaon Mera Desh and his role in the crtically acclaimed movie Achanak as the military officer turned fugitive received tremendous applause from both- the film industry and his fans.

Khanna was born in a Punjabi family to Kamla and Kishanchand Khanna, a textiles, dyes and chemicals businessman, on 6 October 1946, in Peshawar, British India (now in Pakistan). He has three sisters and one brother. Shortly after his birth, India was partitioned and the family left Peshawar and reached Mumbai. In 1982, at the peak of his film career, Khanna temporarily quit the film industry to follow his spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh. After a 5 year hiatus, he returned to the Hindi film industry giving two back to back hit films Insaaf and Satyamev Jayate. Khanna is popularly hailed as one of the most handsome lead actors ever in Bollywood, along with Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna and Shammi Kapoor.

Between 1973 and 1982, Khanna played the lead role in solo hero movies which include Farebi and Hatyara with Moushumi Chatterjee; Qaid in 1975 and Zalim in 1980, both with Leena Chandavarkar; and Inkaar in 1978 opposite Vidya Sinha. He did successful movies like Gaddaar with Yogita Bali, Aap Ki Khatir and Raajmahal opposite Rekha, Main Tulsi Tere Angan Ki with Neeta Mehta, Khoon Ki Pukar , Shaque and Adha Din Aadhi Raat with Shabana Azmi,Aarop with Saira Banu, Taaqat with Rakhee and Parveen Babi, Jail Yatra opposite Reena Roy, Daulat with Zeenat Aman, The Burning Train with Praveen Babi. In 1980, he starred in Feroz Khan’s Qurbani (1980) which became the highest-grossing film of that year. He accepted supporting roles in films with Rajesh Khanna as the lead hero through out his career – Aan Milo Sajna had Vinod in antagonist role, Sachcha Jhoota, Kudrat, Rajput and Prem Kahani had Vinod in character roles.

Vinod also starred in 47 multi hero films. In Shankar Shambhu, Chor Sipahee and Ek Aur Ek Gyarah he co-starred with Shashi Kapoor, in Hera Pheri, Khoon Pasina, Amar Akbar Anthony, Zameer, Parvarish and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar Khanna appeared with Amitabh Bacchan; and in Haath Ki Safai and Aakhri Daku he co-starred with Randhir Kapoor. He appeared with Sunil Dutt in Daku Aur Jawan.He acted with Jeetendra in Ek Haseena Do Diwane, Ek Bechara, Parichay,Insaan, Anokhi Ada and Janam Kundali. He did Rakhwala,Paththar Aur Payal, The Burning Train, Batwara and Farishtey with Dharmendra.

In period 1974-1982 Vinod Khanna was paid more than Jeetendra in the film Insaan and more than Amitabh Bachchan in 4 films like Parvarish, Hera Pheri, Khoon Pasina, Amar Akbar Anthony. In post 1987 period, Vinod Khanna was paid more than Rishi Kapoor, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Rajnikanth, Salman Khan in the films he did with them from 1987-1995. Only in the films he co-starred with Shashi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Sunil Dutt, Raajkumar and Randhir Kapoor in period 1968-1982, Vinod was paid lesser than them.

ROSHAN’s Eleven : Fav Superhero Movies

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In no particular order my fav superhero films of all time are:

  • Superman
  • Iron Man
  • Batman vs Superman
  • Batman : The Dark Knight
  • Deadpool
  • Thor
  • Guardians Of The Galaxy
  • X-Men : First Class
  • The Avengers
  • Captain America : Civil War
  • The Avengers : Age Of Ultron

This is the list for now though the way I feel about these movies the list can change at any time. I will relook at the list in the weeks to come.

Bloggers, Unplugged

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Sometimes, we all need a break from these little glowing boxes. How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

When your head starts to ache or your eye start getting too blurry and you know that you want to move away. Seriously your body will start to tell you when it needs a break. And the best thing is to switch the laptop or desktop off and get up from your seat and don’t come back for a few hours or so.

Do other things that you’d normally do. I would suggest to go read a book, make some fresh juice (pineapple, apple, grape or watermelon come to mind) add some ice and relax near the window or balcony and take in the fresh air. Play some music in the background and let the instruments serenade your mind. Or if you don’t want the fresh juice, buy the ones that come in cartons and add ice and maybe some vodka to it.

Find some friends who want to hang and make some food and enjoy yourself. The glowing boxes will still be there in a few hours.

Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com

Sead Kolasinac To Join Arsenal

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Arsenal already have their first transfer of the next season wrapped up as Bosnian international Sead Kolasinac has completed a medical and agreed to a free transfer to the Emirates at the end of the current season. Kolasinac will arrive at Arsenal this summer – and that will spell the end of the road for either Kieran Gibbs or Nacho Monreal at the Emirates. The Bosnia international, 23, is set to join on a free transfer from Schalke 04 in a move that will be the first of major re-structuring exercise.

Boss Arsene Wenger fully intends to stay put and oversee the re-vamp which will see the club listen to offers for both regular first-choice left-backs. Wenger has been delighted with the promise shown by former non-leaguer Cohen Bramall and the former Hednesford Town defender will become Kolasinac’s understudy. The import of Kolasinac means that Gibbs, 27, is the most likely to leave as he has just 12 months remaining on his current deal. The former England international has played second fiddle to Monreal for most of this season. And although Monreal is contracted to Arsenal until 2019, Wenger will also listen to offers for the Spaniard who will be 33 by the time his agreement with the club expires.

Kolasinac has made 21 appearances in the German top flight this season, scoring three goals and assisting five in the process. Although primarily a left-back, the Bosnia-Herzegovina international can also play at centre-half or as a defensive midfielder. Tottenham and and Serie A big guns AC Milan and Juventus have also been vying for his signature.

Arsenal 2 Manchester City 1 (OT)

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Alexis Sanchez’s scrambled extra-time winner secured Arsenal an FA Cup final date with Chelsea – and ensured Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will end a season without a trophy for the first time in his coaching career. Sanchez settled a contentious semi-final 11 minutes into the extra period after Manchester City failed to clear Mesut Ozil’s free-kick. Arsenal showed great resilience to come from behind – and eased the pressure on manager Arsene Wenger – after Sergio Aguero raced clear of Nacho Monreal to put City ahead in the 62nd minute. Monreal made amends with the equaliser 11 minutes later as he drilled in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cross at the far post – but City were left nursing a serious sense of injustice after this disappointing defeat. They had a goal wrongly ruled out in the first half when Leroy Sane’s cross was adjudged to have gone out before Aguero and Raheem Sterling combined to turn it into the net, while Yaya Toure and Fernandinho hit the woodwork after the break.

It left Arsenal victorious and Wenger aiming for a record seventh FA Cup triumph. Wenger’s future – and the lack of clarity surrounding it – has only been brought into sharper focus by Arsenal’s recent fall outside the Champions League places. The manager needed a statement, as did his team, to ease the growing disquiet among Arsenal fans at the prospect that he will extend his stay as manager. Arsenal’s Wembley win against Manchester City will not ease the concerns in the minds of the doubters but he can point to the victory, and the manner in which it was achieved, as evidence that he could yet be the man to take the club forward. Victory in the final on 27 May would strengthen his and Arsenal’s case for continuity, but for now there was much for the Frenchman and his players to treasure about this triumph.

Wenger persisted with an unfamiliar three-man defensive system comprising youngster Rob Holding, Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny and set up his team to deliver an uncharacteristically stubborn performance. Arsenal rode their luck at times – but Wenger will take that all day. Wenger’s players have been accused of not playing for him in recent months. No such accusation could be levelled here as they dug deep for victory. The Gunners’ embattled manager pumped his fists towards the skies at the final whistle and beamed with delight – he may yet achieve glory amid the worst discontent of his reign. Manchester City will argue long and hard that their chances of reaching the final were sabotaged by a first-half decision that saw a good goal ruled out.

Referee’s assistant Steve Child judged that Sane’s cross had gone behind before Aguero turned it back at the far post and then Sterling made sure. Replays suggested the ball had not gone out and City were the victims of an injustice. City will also feel Lady Luck deserted them as they lost playmaker David Silva to injury early on and saw those efforts from Toure and Fernandinho hit the woodwork. In the final reckoning, they must also accept the brutal truth that once more they enjoyed superiority in possession and territory but could not find the ruthless touch. Arsenal have reached their 20th FA Cup final, a competition record. Alexis Sanchez is Arsenal’s top scorer in games at Wembley, with four goals – he overtook Marc Overmars and Ian Wright on three. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has six assists in his past 10 FA Cup starts for Arsenal. In all competitions this season, only Mesut Ozil (10) and Alexis Sanchez (14) have more assists than Oxlade-Chamberlain (nine).

Allied

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Allied is a 2016 romantic thriller film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Steven Knight set during World War 2. It stars Brad Pitt as a Canadian intelligence officer and Marion Cotillard as a French Resistance fighter and collaborator, who fall in love during a mission in Casablanca. Jared Harris, Simon McBurney and Lizzy Caplan also star.

It’s 1942 and World War 2 is ranging on in Europe. Royal Canadian Air Force Intelligence Officer Max Vatan travels to Casablanca in Morocco to assassinate the German ambassador. He is partnered with a French Resistance fighter named Marianne Beauséjour, who had escaped from France after her resistance group was compromised and killed. They are posing as a married couple and Marianne is introducing him to her new friends in the German camp. Trusted by the Germans, she secures Max an invitation to the party where they plan to conduct the assassination. The two become close despite the danger involved and become intimate the day of the assassination. At the party, aided by a planned distraction, the mission goes well and they kill the ambassador and escape to London. The two get married, settle down in Hampstead, and have a baby girl named Anna. Max takes a desk job for the Allied Forces.

A year later Max is called in by the Special Operations Executive and informed that Marianne is suspected of being a German spy, having adopted her identity after the real Marianne was killed in France. When Max presses, they tell him that two missions that passed his desk were spoiled by the Germans, possibly tipped off by a spy who also knew of the missions. Max having told his wife of the missions is appalled by the accusations but is forced to go along with the plan to write down a piece of false intelligence at home, where Marianne can find it. If the information is picked up from intercepted German transmissions, Max must personally execute her, or be hanged for treason. Max is told otherwise to act normally. He finds it difficult but goes along with the rouse. But he also contacts a former British officer who is said to have known Marrianne – but he is unable to confirm her identity as he has been blinded in a battle.

Max then seeks out a young pilot named Adam Hunter, gives him a picture of his wife, and instructs him to ask French resistance fighter Paul Delamare, a former team member of Marianne’s whether, she really is Marianne. However, the following night, Max’s commanding officer Frank Heslop informs him that Hunter was killed while waiting on the ground for the answer. The following night Max takes the place of a Lysander pilot and flies to France to meet with Delamare, who, it transpires, is being held at the local police station. Max and the resistance break into the jail to confront Delamare. He is drunk, but remembers that Marianne was a beautiful pianist. Max comes back home and takes Marianne to a pub in the morning, breaks in and demands that she play him something on the piano. She cannot and adits that she was a German spy who took on the identity of Marianne after the former was killed. She claims her feelings for Max are genuine and that she and her child were being threatened by German spies in London, including the woman who lives around the corner and often looks after Anna.

Convinced of her feelings for him Max takes Marianne with him, confronts and kills the two German handlers and drives to an airfield. At the airfield his superior, Frank Heslop, confronts Max and with more soldiers coming, doesn’t let Max leave. Marianne tells Max that she loves him, asks him to take care of Anna, then shoots herself. Heslop orders the soldiers present to report that Max executed Marianne as per his orders, so that Max himself will not be punished. After the war, Max moves to the ranch in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, that was always his ambition, and raises Anna. The film ends with Marianne reading the letter that she had earlier written to her daughter, anticipating that one day her real identity would be uncovered.

Slow moving at times, the movie could have been really intense but is instead a slow burner that is held well by the acting ability of the two main leads. The setting in Canary Islands made to look like 1940s Casablanca and in London are great as well. 7.5 outta 10!

Saturday Night Family Drinks & Dinner

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Yesterday was the final rituals for my uncle who passed away on Monday. As I arrived late from work, I woke up late and after a coffee and a shave and a shower later, I left for Thrikkakara in an Uber. I reached there by 11:30 am and had a light breakfast as some of the other had just finished theirs. After a bunch of prayers and stuff which I never partake in at his house, we took my uncle’s ashes to the river banks of the Periyar where his brothers placed his ashes in a clay pot and dropped it in the waters.

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We came back to the house and setup the lunch for everyone. Me and my cousins also served our elders as well and we were grateful for the simple rice and curries as it was almost 3pm by then. We stayed there for a couple of hours more. My uncles wanted to get some drinks in the night and called my cousins and me for a discussion. One of my cousins has a small hall her can hire for the night at his apartment complex and made the arrangements. He also called a local caterer he knows to make fried rice, beef fry, chilli chicken, chicken roast, veggie curry, curd salad and chappatthi for dinner. Plus there was ice cream.

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Another two cousins bought Smirnoff vodka and signature whiskey. The caterer also arrange bottles of cold water, soda and lots of Sprite and ice ofcourse. We drank and we ate and we played some dumb charades. It was fun. It was a cool night in a scorching & humid summer. It was what we needed after the emotional week we have had. We had some fun for over 3 hours and then found Ubers to take us back home.

Have You Never Been Mellow?

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After a long day at work or school, what are your favorite ways to wind down and decompress?

Sure everyone has their own ways of winding down. Take a cup of coffee / tea and sit in the balcony. Drink some beer or vodka or rum or brandy. Watch some silly stuff on tv. Put some music on (some people like it slow and smooth, some people like it heavy and fast) and relax. Some people drink some wine and sink into a bubble bath.

I do none of that stuff. Usually I just come back home and change (I can’t relax with underwear on) and sit in front of the laptop. After a while of listening to music and checking out videos on Youtube I usually watch some tv show or a movie while lying in bed and hopefully will finish it and not fall asleep with all the lights on like last night (and several other nights in the past couple of months).

If I could get a more regular shift (meaning ending at a decent hour like 7pm or 8pm) then I might get a coke and some Bacardi rum or a Sprite and vodka (my fav drink) and relax with it for a while. Eat my dinner at leisure while watching tv before going to bed.

Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com

Middlesborough 1 Arsenal 2

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Arsenal kept alive their hopes of finishing in the top four of the Premier League with a narrow victory at second-bottom Middlesbrough. A dull opening was brought to life when Alexis Sanchez’s superb free-kick gave Arsenal the lead just before the break. Middlesbrough responded soon after the restart when Alvaro Negredo volleyed in Stewart Downing’s pinpoint cross. However, Mesut Ozil secured the much-needed three points for Arsenal with a first-time strike at the near post. The win – only Arsenal’s third in their past nine league games – moves the Gunners up to sixth, seven points behind fourth-place Manchester City and with a game in hand. Middlesbrough remain deep in relegation trouble, six points from safety.

The Gunners have not lost five successive away games in the league since 1984 and manager Arsene Wenger took significant measures to avoid that happening against Boro by playing a three-man defence for the first time since 1997. Rob Holding, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel were the centre-backs at the Riverside Stadium but struggled with the change in system as Middlesbrough looked lively in the early stages but lacked the quality in the final third to exploit the gaps in Arsenal’s defence. Middlesbrough have scored the fewest amount of Premier League goals at home all season – just 12 prior to Arsenal’s visit – and with the quality of Sanchez and Ozil in attack the visitors were always capable of snatching a lead. That proved to be the case when they scored from only their second shot on target just before the break, Sanchez expertly steering a free-kick over a packed wall and into the far corner.

Arsenal’s lack of experience playing 3-4-3 was evident early in the second half when Downing charged away down an exposed right flank on the counter before providing the perfect ball for Negredo to poke in his ninth of the season. The game opened up after that but Ozil’s goal midway through the second half ensured Arsenal escaped with the points. It was a welcome win for under-pressure Wenger but not quite the sign of a return to form. Holding, Koscielny and Gabriel failed to make a single tackle in the first 60 minutes and stronger sides than Middlesbrough will not be as forgiving. Sanchez has cut a frustrated figure at times this season, with reportssuggesting he is keen to leave the Gunners in the summer. However, his celebrations after Arsenal’s goals on Monday did not look like those of an unhappy player. He hugged and high-fived his team-mates and was seen smiling broadly at the final whistle, celebrating with the fans. It is unlikely to be enough to convince Arsenal fans he will stay at the club, but it will no doubt have been pleasing for Wenger.

Arsenal picked up only their second win in their past nine away league games (D1 L6), though both victories came against teams currently in the relegation zone (Swansea were beaten 4-0 on 14 January). Alexis Sanchez has scored more away goals in the Premier League this season than any other player (13). Indeed, only Emmanuel Adebayor (14 in 2007-08) has scored more away goals in a single Premier League campaign for Arsenal than Sanchez this season. Middlesbrough are winless in 15 league games – their longest such run in the division. Only Thierry Henry (12) has scored more direct free-kick goals in the Premier League for Arsenal than Sanchez (five, level with Robin van Persie). Mesut Ozil has scored in two of his past three league games for Arsenal, the same number he’d scored in in his previous 16. Ozil also made four tackles, his joint-most in a Premier League game (last doing so against Man City in December 2015). Arsenal’s opener was their 3,000th away goal in English league football (now 3,001) – the second side to reach that figure (Manchester United, 3226).

Saying Goodbye To My Uncle

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I was off blogging and off from Social media for the past two days. My uncle, my mom’s brother who is one of her 7 brothers, passed away after coughing up blood and suffering a massive heart attack. At the time he was away in Gurgaon (New Delhi) visiting his daughter, my cousin. She had made a quick & unannounced visit to Kochi on Friday and took her parents to Gurgaon via flight so they could spend a few days together. That was on Saturday. On Sunday after dinner and having spent a happy time playing with the pup my cousin and her husband had adopted, he went to bed. Later he coughed up blood and apparently had the attack early Monday morning.

They called an ambulance to take him to the hospital but he passed away while on the way to the hospital. After a full day at hospital, meeting with the cops for the death report, getting certificates for taking his body back home to Kerala, getting an autopsy done at another hospital and arranging the flight back, my cousin and her husband had to go back home and break the news to my aunt who was devastated. But she kinda knew that he would not make it back.  On Tuesday we arranged the funeral. On landing in Kochin, he was taken to his parent’s home in Mattancherry and then brought to his home in Thrikkakara.

I wish I could tell you all how much my uncle meant to me. He was a really awesome uncle. When my sister and I were really young, as kids when we fell ill or got hurt, we asked for our Vijayanuncle. My sister was very clingy to him as a young child. He doted on us. He cared for us just like a good uncle would. I spent many evenings with him and my aunt because they liked having us around. I especially remember one evening in Kuwait, where we all lived, and my uncle had taken 5 or 6 year old me to a shop to buy samosas for the evening snacks with tea/coffee and on our way back we sat at this little park area for a while. Many years later as we all moved back to India and lived in Thrikkara, we would sit and watch football or WCW / WWE Wrestling together and talk about sports and stuff. I remember watching a few World Cup football matches with him. The last few years, after my family moved to the city area my visits to my uncle and aunt were very less and I think the few times I saw him were when he made a quick visit here or at a family function.

And now that he is gone, all I can say is Thank you. Thank you for being a great uncle to me and my sister and to our cousins. Thank you to being a great dad to my cousin sister Shalini. We will all miss you for the rest of our lives.

Forward Drive

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What is the one thing that drives you to wake up in the morning and do whatever it is you do? Is it writing, family, friends, or something else entirely?

Well, usually it is the need to pee. I drink a lot of water in a day, usually about 2 litres or so hence by the morning I need to empty my bladder and as soon as I wake up I need to relieve myself. So I head to the loo, close the door, lift up the lid and then my lungi and I let it flow!

On a serious note, it’s my bank account. No one is going to fill my bank account with cash and it can’t do it on it’s own. And since I haven’t won the lottery yet – darn it, been waiting on that $100,000,000 win for so long now – I have to get up, get shaved and showered and go to work so at the end of the month I get that cash. Because if did win big and got a big bunch of money (enough to last me a lifetime and keep me and my family well fed, well clothed and afford luxuries) I would quit. That very instant I would quit working and retire to my new home.

Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com