Note: The following short story is an entry in the July 2012 edition of WritingForums.com's Literary Maneuvers competition, where it finished 6th out of 16 entries. To view this entry as it appears in the competition, click here.
23 June 1941 03:57 AM
Northwest of East Prussia, near Soviet Lithuania
“Wehrmachtskommandantur, this is General Erich Hoepner of the 4th Panzer Group.”
“Copy, General Hoepner. This is Commander von Leeb.”
“Sir, we are ready to engage the northwestern front attack of Operation Barbarossa. Any final commands?”
“None, general. Proceed as planned - Take no prisoners, eliminate all targets.”
“Erklart, commander. Fur das Reich. Hoepner, out.”
* * *
23 June 1941 07:24 AM
Raseiniai, Soviet Lithuania
Nine-year-old Nikita was playing just outside their hut in one of the small farms of Raseiniai with her favorite doll, hand-sewn by her own Motina. The doll looked rugged and beat, since it was already old, but Nikita treasured it for it was the only toy her parents could afford to give her.
Life hadn’t been easy for them. Purges were held almost every week by the NKVD – Soviet’s SS – and they were lucky to have escaped such brutal tortures and killings. Just two weeks ago, one of Nikita’s friends, Andriy, was shot in the head by a single bullet. His family was killed the same way. Andriy was ten.
While playing with her doll, Nikita heard an unusual, mechanical, rattling sound. It looked as if today was another purge day. Nikita moved to tie her worn shoes, but decided it would take too much time. She quickly ran to her Motina, who was some yards away in the fields. She was tending to their crops.
“Motina, motina!” Yelled Nikita as she ran to her mother.
“What is the problem, little one?”
“I could hear tanks! They’re coming! We need to run! We need to hide!”
Nikita could see her mother’s eyes grew wide at the sound of tanks. Her mother quickly grabbed her by the arms and both raced towards their hut. While they did, Nikita saw the laundry basket on the ground still full of clothes needed to be hung and dried. She guessed they could be done later, when the purges were over.
Once inside, she and her mother quickly went to a small spot in the corner. Nikita’s mother knelt and felt the ground with her hands, as if reaching for something. There it was, the hidden door latch that lead to the underground bunker Nikita’s father made roughly a year ago.Motina quickly opened it and both rushed inside.
Once they were both in, Nikita’s mother closed the latch shut, and both waited. Nikita could still remember roughly six months ago during one of those purges. The whole family hadn’t anticipated it, and was caught off-guard. Usually, they heard of news from nearby farms and villages. Not that night. They rushed towards the bunker, but the Soviet NKVD was close on their tail. Nikita’s father had to stall the soldiers so his family could quickly hide.
He was found in the fields the next morning dead with his eyes gouged out.
Grrrrr…
The sound seems too loud for a couple of tanks. This wasn’t the NKVD… This was obviously something else. Nikita saw her mother smile while looking at the bunker hatch door.
“What is it, mother?”
“I’ve heard it from our neighbors. The Germans were said to be coming, get Stalin out of his post, free us from him!”
Nikita smiled. “No more purges?”
“No more.”
“Then let’s go welcome them!”
Nikita’s mother nodded. Both of them rushed out of the bunker and out their hut. Sure enough, they saw multitudes of tanks with German insignias running through the dirt road of Raseiniai. Nikita’s mother waved at them.
Suddenly, one of the tanks stopped and aimed its shooter toward them. Before both could react, the tank fired. The shot blew everything within the area apart – the hut, the laundry basket, some of the crops, the frail bodies of Nikita and her mother.
"Eat Bulaga" trademark and other associated copyrights owned by TAPE, Inc. and GMA-7
Filipinos, including myself, won't bat an eyelash when a foreign TV show franchise is bought and set up here. That has been pretty much the practice for the past ten years or so. But when a local show's franchise is bought and set up in another country, that's another story. So it was a great, pleasant surprise for me when I heard that the thirty-three year-old TV Show "Eat Bulaga", a show I've watched since a kid, now has a franchise show in Indonesia. Bearing the same title, the Indonesian Eat Bulaga aired last July 16th. (Link to news source: Indonesian Network Obtains Franchise Of ‘Eat Bulaga!’ - Manila Bulletin)
Tape Inc. Senior Vice President and COO Malou Choa-Fagar said in an interview with Yahoo! Philippines OMG! (Link to news source: 'Bulaga' Pilot in Indonesia Gets Good Ratings) that it was the Indonesian network SCTV who contacted them about a possible franchise.
The COO said in the above mentioned interview, “It was they (Indonesia’s Surya Citra Televisi or SCTV) who approached us... The program director Harsiwi Achmad has been watching “Bulaga” on YouTube even before he was not yet with SCTV. He studied the show closely and felt it will work in Indonesia.”
And the pilot show, according to the same article, found great success in ratings.
This marks as a new achievement for the show "Eat Bulaga", a show that has been on air for the past thirty-three years. As a fan of the show, I can't help but feel proud for them and be amazed by their new achievement. Naysayers and critics could say all they want to say, but Tito, Vic and Joey, and their ingenious show, has added another milestone award to their already lengthy list of accomplishments and they could do nothing about it. Kudos, Eat Bulaga, for doing a very swell job! No "horse" could out-gallop your success.
The Indonesian Eat Bulaga airs every 4 PM in Indonesia at the SCTV network.
The first ever "Not Sure If Related..." blog post I did was between Mario Gomez and Charlie Sheen (More on that post here). It was such a huge success that I decided to make it a regular here in my site.
Now, this following comparison was actually the first one that inspired this whole segment, even before Mario Gomez and Charlie Sheen. So I was watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World in HBO about a month ago. Apart from the comical scenes and the epic portrayal of Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, one character that struck me was Stephen Stills, Pilgrim's friend played by actor Mark Webber. I can't quite put my intrigue until I realized, "What the hell? He looks like WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan!"
Here's their image side-by-side and you be the judge:
Daniel Bryan image retrieved from teamliquid.net
Mark Webber image retrieved from mallgrab.com
Daniel Bryan trademark and other associated copyrights owned by WWE and respective parties not mentioned.
Now, the image doesn't exactly show a strong resemblance, but it is still a resemblance none the less. I suggest that if you're going to pursue this thread, then watch the movie yourself and then decide.
As far as I'm concerned on whether they look alike, my answer is "Yes! Yes! Yes!" :)
Euro 2012 trademark and other associated copyrights owned by UEFA.
After a full month of blood, sweat and tears; after all the drama, the excruciating near-goals and the fantastic saves, after the net has been battered many times, it all comes down to this - The Euro 2012 finals match between La Roja and the Azurri, Spain against Italy.
Image retrieved from deviantart.com. Digital art created by ~salm0.
Final match: Spain 4-0 Italy
The goal count should be enough manifestation that this was a one-sided game. Just 14 minutes in, David Silva heads in a beautiful goal from a brilliant Fabregas pass. Twenty minutes later, Jordi Alba, the superb Spanish Left-back (!), makes a brilliant run to make it 2-0 before half-time. Critics are bombing Spain of their lack of a striker and boring play... Do they really need a striker with this kind of play? And is this boring? No to both questions, I think.
Spain's Left-back Jordi Alba makes it 2-0 after a superb goal before half-time.
Video retrieved from youtube.com. Video uploaded by Mehran Ravanbod.
Second half and Italy was on the rally. Bouncing back was the ultimate goal. Put this to extra time, maybe? Or clinch three goals in 45 minutes? The race against the clock was on for the Azurri.
Unfortunately for the Italians, it was simply not their night. Italy had used its first sub on Chiellini in exchange for Balzaretti in the 21st minute (yeah, it was that early), followed by Cassano for Di Natale in the 46th and finally Montolivo for Motta in the 57th. Four minutes after that, Motta gets injured and is carried off the field, leaving Italy with 10 men over Spain's superb 11. There will be blood.
Torres was called in to replace Fabregas in the 75th minute. Nine minutes later, his goal would, without a doubt, sink Italy. And to add insult to injury (sorry 'bout the pun, Mr. Thiago Motta. It wasn't intended...), Chelsea's Juan Mata scores another goal for Spain, winning the match 4-0.
A bit of trickery from Torres draws Keeper Buffon out and helps Mata score for Spain 4-0.
Video retrieved from youtube.com. Video uploaded by Mehran Ravanbod.
With that, Spain silences its critics in breath-taking fashion. They were certainly not boring, not by a long shot. And they're lack of a striker is justified. The're style may have been blasted throughout the media in the recent days, but that brought them to their third consecutive trophy.
Congratulations to Spain for their well-deserved crown. Will there be 4th in a row? With what they just showed us, that is not unlikely.
