The much-awaited return of the 6th season of House finally premiered last night in a 2-hour special. Episodes 1 and 2 were combined to kick the new season off where House had ended the 5th entering Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital to help fight off his addiction to vicodin and stave off his hallucinations.

Even while in the hospital, House is still up to his scheming ways as he finds ways to get the ward chief’s letter of recommendation for him to leave the place and be able to practice medicine again. He inevitably finds out that his ways are ineffective as he is up against someone who is always one step ahead of him.

He tries to “help” one of his co-patients using his typical ways but ended up almost killing him. He even almost needed someone again and realized in himself that he needed to follow the rules to be able to truly get better. In the end, he still found a way to help two of his fellow patients to finally get better and it was a fitting end to his cleansing process.

Surprisingly, all this allowed House to finally realize the wrong of his ways and actually SEEMS like he has allowed himself to be open to change. So it will be interesting to see what happens when he gets back to Princeton-Plainsboro.

There are very good performances from some notable stars like Andre Braugher (The Mist, Rise of the Silver Surfer), who played the ward chief very well and who seemed to have “broken” House, and Franka Potente (Bourne Supremacy) who was the girl House almost fell for.

All in all, it was a very good start to Season 6! I can’t wait for the next episode when he gets back in Princeton-Plainsboro to see if he really has changed his ways! You can download the 2-hour special on the torrent options below. Enjoy!

Download Links:
House Season 6 Premiere Episodes 1 and 2 HDTV (699.87MB)
House Season 6 Premiere Episodes 1 and 2 720p (2.19GB)

Mariah Carey’s 12th studio album to date called “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” will be released on September 25, 2009. So this is going to be an advanced preview for those who like her genre of music. It’s a 2-CD compilation, the first of which has 17 tracks, while the second features different remixes of her smash-hit “Obsessed.”

“Obsessed” was released as her first album single back in July and debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. It’s actually her highest debut since 1998′s “My All,” which is pretty surprising. She said she chose to use three images for the cover art because “there are a lot of different emotions and stories revealed on this album and that there will be big ballads in it.”

Upon the actual release of the album, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” is packaged in a 3-panel softpack. A must-have for all Mariah fans, and will include: – The CD – A 2nd Enhanced CD featuring the “Obsessed” video, a remix video, and 3 remixes. Enjoy!

Disc 1:

1. “Betcha Gon’ Know (The Prologue)” – 4:00
2. “Obsessed” – 4:05
3. “H.A.T.E.U.” – 4:28
4. “Candy Bling” – 4:03
5. “Ribbon” – 4:21
6. “Inseparable” – 3:34
7. “Standing O” – 4:00
8. “It’s a Wrap” – 3:59
9. “Up Out My Face” – 3:41
10. “Up Out My Face (The Reprise)” — 0:51
11. “More Than Just Friends” – 3:37
12. “The Impossible” – 4:01
13. “The Impossible (The Reprise)” – 2:26
14. “Angel (The Prelude)” – 1:04
15. “Angels Cry” – 4:02
16. “Languishing (The Interlude)” – 2:34
17. “I Want to Know What Love Is” – 3:27

Disc 2:

14. “Obsessed (Cahill Radio Mix)” – 3:20
15. “Obsessed (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Radio Edit” – 3:12
16. “Obsessed (Jump Smokers Radio Edit)” – 3:10
17. “Obsessed (Friscia and Lamboy Radio Mix)” – 4:12

Artist: Mariah Carey
Title: Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Time: 58:13 on Disc 1, 14:01 on Disc 2
Size: 95.89MB
Download Links: NewTorrents , Hotfile

The rain-stricken end stage of the US Open ’09 Semifinals finally began today but came to an abrupt end with what was one of the most peculiar losses in the history of the final Grand Slam of the Year. In a very bizarre finish, Serena Williams was penalized for verbal abuse that cost her the entire match and pushed the come-backing Kim Clijsters to the Finals.

While serving 5-6, 15-30 on her second serve, down one set already to Clijsters, Serena was called for a foot fault by the lineswoman to bring Kim to double match-point. Serena seemed relatively calm at first but suddenly walked directly to the lineswoman and started hurling expletives and pointed her racket at the fearful judge.

When she finished her tirade, the lineswoman informed the chair umpire of what the disgusted Serena had said to her and it was deemed to fall under verbal abuse. And as the rules state, you are penalized for it. And as such, Serena Williams not only foot-faulted her way to a 15-40 match point deficit, she also automatically lost the set and the match because of the verbal abuse penalty she was given. It was the second warning that cost her a point after she broke her racket earlier in the match. The final score, Clijsters over Williams in 2 sets, 6-4, 7-5, in what was just a terrible way to end a very good match-up between two of the finest players in the world.

Thus, the former US Open Champion Kim Clijsters, coming off a long layoff due to giving birth to a child, is now one step away from successfully coming back with a vengeance by moving on to the Finals facing the Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who just beat her compatriot Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium. She was also able to trump the two Williams’ sisters en route to the Finals. This should put her right back on the map in women’s tennis and I’m predicting she’s going to be the Number 1 women’s player in 2010, mark my words!

I was cleaning up files in my laptop earlier and saw these pictures that I was supposed to put up 5 months ago! It’s the second part of the Laughing at Pictures entry and still I haven’t had the time to put up the funny animated GIF’s. That’s a real laugher so hopefully I’d be able to put it up by end of this month. For now, a few more pictures to laugh at and enjoy. Click on the images to get the larger view

Related Links:
Laughing at Pictures

With our full and utmost respect and condolences to the passing of our former president Maria Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009), this is a small tribute to honor her memory. A well-known advocate of democracy,  she was the 11th president of the Philippines and the first female president of the country, as well as in Asia.

With her address to the US Congress in 1986 being shown on TV, it was a fitting testimonial to what she fought for and the kind of person she was. Her pureness of heart and deep love for her people was felt all across her 6-year term as well as years after that. And thus we as a people mourn for her death today, yet are very thankful for being bestowed with a president such as she. May her soul rest in peace and her ideals be forever lived by the Filipino people.

Four days ago, my friends and I flew to Boracay for a vacation amidst warnings of a few torrential rains and thunderstorms. But it didn’t matter since one of us had offered 12 eggs to the Gods to bless us with fair weather, hehe, and it worked wonders! And after all, I hadn’t set foot there for three years because I’m not a real big beach fan, but the trip turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.

We stayed at The Tides and it was a more than decent resort, but whatever good attributes it had was totally overshadowed and trumped when we were toured around Shangri-La’s Resort & Spa by our contact Yvette Recto. By definition:

Shan·gri-la \ (shnggr-lä) \ noun
1: an imaginary remote paradise on earth; utopia.
2: a distant and secluded hideaway, usually of great beauty and peacefulness.

And boy, was it that and more! I have been to quite a few resorts here and around the globe, and I’m a very picky too, but I can say that this resort is definitely world-class. We arrived at Shangri-La about half past eleven and we were treated to a sumptuous lunch buffet at the Vintana. The food was exquisite and not the typical buffet where food is stuffed in your face from all over and you’re bloated even before you’ve started. The mix of cuisines from East and West was a great combination and the desserts tickled your sweet-tooth with its fanciful variety.

After our hearty lunch we were whisked off to the guided tour of the resort. Just to give you guys an idea as to how huge the place was, we started touring from the main lobby at 2:30pm and ended up back there riding in our golf carts at around 4:30pm. And to think we probably walked through only half of the entire resort and it took us 2 full hours! All the images contained here are directly from my camera, raw, and this is exactly what we saw walking around this pure Utopia.

We started from the lobby and moved to their deluxe room, which is their smallest room at 60sqm and has broadband access coupled with a flatscreen TV, an iPod dock, and a private balcony with a daybed facing the sea. From there, we moved to their function rooms and then to the Entertainment Centre! This place had everything! It has 2 billiard tables, a karaoke room, an X Box 360, an air hockey table, a ping-pong table, and even a basketball arcade!

And right beside it is the Adventure Zone, a kid’s paradise with 2 huge slides! One that holds 3 to race and drops you down wearing a sack, while the other one dropping you down on a myriad of bouncy balls! I’m telling you, a family can stay here for hours on end and not be bored at all!

After that, we were brought to their gym and gee whiz, you wouldn’t think a resort would have this kind of a facility. It’s state-of-the-art with jacuzzi’s and sauna rooms and a really huge locker room and honestly, I didn’t expect to see this kind of quality. Moving further down, we had a short walk to the Villas, which is really one of the highlights of the tour. It was 99sqm and you would be wowed by how it looked inside. And when you open your door to the outside, it’s already the beachside!

And lastly, the jewel of the resort is the 5,714-square-metre Chi Spa. It is separated into pavillions built specifically to cater to your particular needs and designed as a sanctuary within the resort. If you were looking for a blissful place to relax and soothe those aching muscles from a whole day at the beach, then this is your haven.

Between that and the infinity pools and seemingly endless forest-like paths, the walk was absolutely breathtaking. I was ooohing and aahhhing on practically every place we set foot on and to think ALL of this is part of the package when you stay in the Shangri-La in Boracay.

The cost of staying in paradise? Their promo until October is a mere 14,000++ Php for 3 days/2 nights for 2 pax with the 2nd night free along with breakfast and transfer to and from the airport! All the perks in this resort for 14k is a gift if you ask me compared to whatever resort you’re staying in wherever in the world. I think I’ll go pack now and book another flight to Boracay again for next week, haha!