Arsenal 3 Stoke City 0

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s late double set Arsenal on course for victory over relegation-threatened Stoke at Emirates Stadium. The Gunners were booed off at half-time by another sparse and subdued home crowd after seeing Aaron Ramsey clip the crossbar with their only clear chance of the first 45 minutes. Arsenal showed greater urgency after the break, although Stoke struck the woodwork through a Xherdan Shaqiri corner before the hosts were awarded a disputed penalty for a foul by Bruno Martins Indi on Mesut Ozil.

Aubameyang converted the spot-kick before firing home from an Ozil corner. And the Gabon striker passed up the chance to claim a hat-trick when Arsenal were awarded another penalty late on. Badou Ndiaye pushed Alexandre Lacazette in the box and the Arsenal substitute converted to round off a scoreline which flattered the Gunners. Despite having 17 days between matches – a result of the international break and being out of the FA Cup – Arsenal looked laboured in possession and had only just got into the ascendancy when the first penalty was awarded. Replays showed that Arsene Wenger’s men were perhaps fortunate as Martins Indi appeared to get his left foot to the ball before catching Ozil from behind.

Ndiaye then fired narrowly wide for Stoke before Arsenal clinched a fourth straight victory with the two late goals. They remain sixth in the Premier League table, five points adrift of Chelsea, in fifth, and 10 behind fourth-placed Tottenham before the London rivals faced each other (16:00 BST). Despite starting on the front foot, Stoke stay second from bottom, three points from safety, after their eighth game without a win. Petr Cech and Granit Xhaka had been ever-presents in the Premier League but they lost their record as Wenger left them out of the starting line-up. Laurent Koscielny was also left on the bench as he is nursing an Achilles problem.

April Fool’s Day! Tell us your best practical joke story.

April Fool’s Day! Tell us your best practical joke story.

Ok this is the simple trick, which we label as the Wizard. Now say I wanted to pull this trick on someone I am with, I would tell this person that I know a Wizard would could read other people’s minds. And then I would take a deck of playing cards and ask this person to pick a card at random and show me the card. Then I could call my friend the Wizard on the phone, in full view of the other person and once the phone is picked up I would ask for The Wizard. Once the Wizard is on the phone I would tell him that I have a friend / relative here who has picked a card and would he be able to tell him which this card is by reading his/her mind. When the Wizard says he is ready, I would then give the phone to my friend/relative who picked the card and then the Wizard, without fail will tell the other person the card he or her had picked. Worked every time and the person would be stunned!

Wanna know how we did it? It’s simple. My friend Nikhil and I had prearranged signals for enacting this little silly trick. When I had a person with me who chose a card at random and showed it to me, say it was the 8 of Diamonds, I know which one it is right? So when I called Nikhil at his home and he picks up, I would use the first prearranged signal, which is:

“Is The Wizard at home?”

Nikhil would then start saying to me “One….two…three….four…five….six….seven…eight….” till Ace! I would interrupt him at the correct number, which in this case is eight and then ask the next question:

“I have a friend / relative here who has picked a card and could you read his / her mind and tell which card it is?”

That being the second prearranged sign, Nikhil would then say to me “Clubs…..Hearts….Diamonds…..Spades” and I would interrupt him at Diamonds and say “Ok, so I’m going to hand it over to my friend / relative now!” So Nikhil aka The Wizard now knows that the picked card is the 8 of Diamonds. I hand the phone to my friend / relative and as soon as they say “hello” he would say “The 8 of Diamonds” and hang up! Leaving a stunned person at the other end of the line and me with a big smile on my face!

Prompt from 30 DAYS OF WRITING PROMPTS FOR APRIL at The SitsGirls

The Disaster Artist

The Disaster Artist is a 2017 American biographical comedy-drama film produced and directed by James Franco. Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the film is based on Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell’s non-fiction book of the same name, and chronicles the making of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 The Room, widely considered one of the worst movies ever made. The film stars brothers James and Dave Franco as Wiseau and Sestero, respectively, alongside a supporting cast featuring Seth Rogen (who also produced), Alison Brie, Ari Graynor, Josh Hutcherson, and Jacki Weaver.

The movie tells the story of how Greg met Tommy in acting class as they two lived in San Francisco and asks for help to get rid of his shyness as the former is impressed by the latter’s no holds barred style. As they become friends while trying to get an acting career moving, they decide to move to Los Angeles where they stay in an apartment that Tommy, who seemingly has a lot of wealth though no known source of income, owns. Greg soon finds a talent agency who signs him on but Tommy keeps getting rejected. reg develops a relationship with Amber, whom he meets at a nightclub, and Tommy grows jealous; as he fails to find work, he becomes disheartened. As Greg’s auditions also dry up, he shares his frustrations with Tommy, who decides to make a movie for them both to star in.

Tommy writes the screenplay for The Room, a melodrama about a love triangle and betrayal  between banker Johnny (played by Tommy), his fiancée Lisa and his best friend Mark. Greg accepts the role of Mark and an associate producer credit and the two select the cast. They rent out a production house; Tommy insists on buying all the production equipment, and shooting the film on 35 mm film and HD Digital simultaneously, costly and unnecessary measures. Production starts smoothly enough as there is a lot of issues as Tommy always arrives late, forgets his lines (in a hilarious scene on the rooftop) and doesn’t supply his crew with necessities like air conditioning and water, causing an older actress to faint. He even insults the actress playing Lisa during their sex scene.

He also secretly has another camera man record his crew who criticize him and his plans. While at a cafe, Greg runs into Bryan Crantson who knows Amber, and the actor ends up offering him a role in an episode of Malcolm In The Middle. he part requires a beard; as Greg is due to shave his beard for The Room, he begs Tommy to postpone shooting, but Tommy refuses. On the last day of shooting, Greg accuses Tommy of being selfish and duplicitous throughout their friendship, and questions his real age and origins. 8 months pass with no contact between the friends, when Greg gets an invitation for the premier, as do the entire cast and crew and they all show up.

Tommy makes a strange and late entrance and the movie starts with a packed audience (no doubt some of them influenced by the large billboard that Tommy has rented for the movie’s advertising) – the audience reacts first with horror then laughter at the film. Tommy is upset walks out, but Greg comforts him, telling him they have delighted the audience, not angered them. With Greg’s urging, Tommy comes back in and greets the audience takes credit for his “comedic” movie, and receives a standing ovation. the film made $1,800 against its reported $6 million budget during its initial release (Wiseau kept it running for two weeks, allegedly to qualify for the Academy Awards), but it has since become a profitable cult film. Wiseau and Sestero remain friends and, to this day, Wiseau’s age, past life and source of income remain a mystery.

It is strange how good this film is, ironically as it is about the worst film to have been produced, atleast in the US. I’m sure that there are even worse films elsewhere. There are awesome acting moments here. It’s a fun and entertaining flick but I do think you should watch The Room atleast once before you see this one. 8.5 outta 10!