Penalties for dummies

Ha ha ha ha ha... Brilliant

He is staying

Finally, Gerrard comes out clean and states that he is staying. Having read various websites and blogs regarding this news, I must say that the general feeling is that of relief rather than excitement. It is absolutely good news to me, and although i did at a point of time had my doubts that he might be on the way, fair play to him for actually coming out and saying that he DID in fact consider leaving at one point, and i don't blame him for that. The main important fact is, he is staying and i believe him when he says that he is 100% committed to the club. Thats all that matters. Now, Owen, when are YOU going to come out and say THAT?!

Quote:
"The last three of four weeks have been really confusing for me.

"I have been involved in a big tournament and that's the reason I have been really quiet about my future.

"I have not really been happy with the progress the club has made the last two years as I have often told the media. For the first time in my career I thought about the possibility of leaving Liverpool for another club. But after Euro 2004 and sitting down with my family, having a fourth meeting with Rick and spending time with my agent, I am staying on at Liverpool.

"I am 100% committed to the club. I've gone with a decision that's been in my heart. I love the club, I love the supporters and that's what it boiled down to at the end of the day."

Courtesy of koptalk.org

Come on you Czechs!!!

Absolutely good game by the Czechs to dispose of the Danes and set up an encounter with the Greeks. Furthermore, two excellently taken goals by Baros to propel him to the top of the goal scoring charts as well. Now if only i had put in the bet for him at the beginning of the tournament. They were giving him 50-1 odds would you believe it. Now only if he could replicate this sort of form for us next season, I would be one of the happiest people. He did come out and say that he was contemplating leaving Livepool in the summer, and rightly so as I wouldn't blame him, but he is now willing to give us another chance, and I honestly do hope that he is given a fair crack of the whip to prove himself.

One more week to go before i can start to get some *continous* decent sleep again. At least i get some "rest" from the early mornings for a couple of days. Need to start coming into office in a non-comatized state of mind again.

Working on a Sunday Again

Damn, i need a new job. Good news is, France are out of Euro 2004 and Holland are thru to the semi finals. That news kinda sweetens the blow of the England loss to Portugal a few days back, especially the news of the kicking out of those arrogant French basterds. Serves them right. I think they need a major overhaul of their coaching staff and also they need to phase out some of their more senior players, as although they have been tremendous, world class servants to their national team, it's about time for the likes of Desailly, Lizarazu and company to let some of the younger players give it a crack. It must be a worry to the Spurs fans though, seeing their new incoming coach not able to hack it with some of the best players in the world. It only makes you think, if he can't get a team with the likes of Zidane, Henry, Pires and co to play proper football, i shudder to think of the possiblity of him with the Spurs players.

I have decided that i shall support the Czech Republic now, since from the games that I have seen them play, I must admit they play a more entertaining brand of football. If only Baros and Smicer played like that with Liverpool. Maybe with a new manager they would? Who knows? Come on you Czechs!!!!

End of the road for England

First and foremost, what the fark were they thinking playing like that?! I mean, for the first 83 minutes after Owen scored, did they expect to just sit down and let the Portuguese players hammer them to death? Did they actually think the tactic that ultimately backfired against the French could have been successful against Portugal? What the fark was Eriksson thinking making England play like that, like a bunch of sissies afraid to play mano-e-mano against the big bullies, so they just defend defend and defend. I am just still so damned pissed off.

Beckham should be banned against taking any more penalty kicks for England, period, and it also didn't help his cause the fact that he had an absolute crap of a game. Not enough involvement in the game and his so called dead ball skills, well, were non-existent either.

David James should be shot dead, or at least should never EVER be within a miles radius away from the England number one jersey ever again. EVER. He lacks confidence, lacks authority in the box and, well, just was a bundle of nerves throughout the match. I just could not bear to watch anytime a cross or a set piece was played, as i just feared the worst.

Scholes was another piece of shit that just didn't bother to turn up and play on the day. He should not have started and contributed absolutely nothing to the England team when he was on, and rightly substituted in the second half, although i am still so very shocked that Eriksson actually brought in Phil Neville on for him, (of all people?!) when there were the likes of Dyer or Cole who could have been brought in instead.

Lampard seemed to be playing for the Portugal team as his every pass was directed to one of them, and even Gerrard was having an absolute stinker of a game. Owen, on the other hand had a decent-ish game, scoring by poaching with the deftest of touches in the 3rd minute and then continued to look "relatively" bright and sharp and always seemed to be happy chasing lost causes.

The defence, i would say got a 8/10 for pure defending but a 0/10 marks in the areas of "keeping the ball", and "passing to your team mate". All four of them were pretty decent defensively, but absolutely shocking otherwise.

At the end of the day, i guess Portugal did deserve to win, as the team that actually *tried* to play football in the first place. The game also showed how absolutely bad the England squad is when it comes to strength in depth. I mean, once Rooney got injured, they didn't have anyone else to put in other than Vassell, and for the midfield, if one of them isn't performing particularly well, who can they bring in ? Bloody Phil Neville, that's who. And that just shows how pathetic the squad is. Other than the first eleven, there is absolutely nobody to take over if anyone gets injured or is out of form.

On a side note, I thought it was absolutely hilarious seeing how Eriksson reacted to the first Portugal goal. Not such a cool Swede after-all huh? Well serves you right for your lame excuse of a tactic that even puts the Italians to shame in terms of sitting on a 1-nil lead.

I feel so utterly disappointed and I have been in a perpetual state of depression throughout the day. It also doesn't help the fact that i only got two hours of sleep last night. Bollocks. Later.

Come on Ingerlund....

Need to stay up to watch the match tonight and boy, is it going to be a cracker of a game! Here's to a three-nil win over Portugal, with goals from Rooney, Owen and Gerrard.

Three Lions On the Shirt!!!

Ha ha.. "Ze Germanz" are OUT

Best news i have heard / read today. It would have been a major shame if the Germans had gone through at the expense of the Oranjes, considering the absolute dross the Germans have been serving us. At the end of the day, the team that actually plays flowing attacking football made it through, which SHOULD be the way it is. Can't wait for the game tonight.

It's given me a bit more faith

Been reading this article from redandwhitekop.com and it has been given me some food for thought, and also made me think around all the media hype that Gerrard is moving to Chelsea. Main points from this is basically why the f*ck would Gerrard want to leave for Chelsea (other than the money that is) anyway? Because he was pissed off by not getting an "English" manager? Of course, then go off to Chelsea to work for Mourinho who is obviously British... NOT!! Was it because he wants to win more medals? Well Chelsea has been winning f*ck all as well lately and it is only in THEORY that they *might* do sort of good next season. Was it because he wants to play with better players? Well, Chelsea has indeed *tried* to buy the big names, but the matter of fact is, they have tried to sign Henry, Viera, Pires, Zidane, and, sadly for them, failed. Their latest signing so far, for 12 million squid i hear, is a Portuguese right back who costs as much as Djibril Cisse and also was the player who did THAT pass against Greece in the opening match of Euro 2004.

Basically, the fact is, Gerrard is playing for ,and captaining mind you, (arguably) the top British club of all time, a club that he has been a supporter since he his childhood years and he is idolized to bits by the loyal supporters of the club. I think it's absolutely bollocks what i have been reading in the papers / internet that it would be considered a dream move for him to move to Chelsea, as I would think that he is already living his dream captaining Liverpool. I have faith in his loyalty, which I admit,was a wee bit shaky before, and i don't think he will move yet and he will give Rafa at least a year or two of his services to see where one of the highest rated coaches in Europe is capable of bringing our team.

You'll Never Walk Alone.

England are in, Italians are out

Been busy, but i just must state that it was a good England game against the Croats and i am somewhat pleased to see the back of the whinging Italians. Good game on Tuesday morning for Rooney, Lampard and *shock and horror* Neville (Gary), and Gerrard looks as if he is improving by the game. Owen had a less than spectacular game but he was involved in three of the goals so, i guess that's not too bad. It is, though, a tad bit alarming seeing the rate of goals that England are conceeding, especially from set pieces.

Batteries recharged..

Just got back from a short holiday getaway in Bali with my family. Needed some time away from work and all to recharge my ailing batteries and just spend some time relaxing in on the beach, watching the waves of the crystal clear sea come and go, feeling the calm and soothing balinese wind blowing on your body while sipping fruit juice that comes in a huge nice ice cold glass with those small umbrellas coming out of it. Well, if only that happened, since i spent the most of the four days in Bali driving around in a van with my dad, looking for some terracotta stones and balinese wood carvings at some godforsaken places. Ah well, at least it was a very much needed break from the norm and i got myself away from my laptop for 4 WHOLE days (amazing isn't it?). Anyway, some major happenings that have been happening (football-wise) while i have been away.

Ingerlund 3 - Switzerland NIL
A score line to tell you the truth, England did not deserve at all since they only actually started to get some degree of control of the match once the Swiss were down to 10 men. A harsh sending off as well in my opinion to the Swiss right back. Owen made a superb assist to help Rooney become the youngest ever European Finals goalscorer (then Owen decided to just dissapear), then Rooney got credit for a goalkeeper's own goal, and then Gerrard finished off what some people call a "superb move" against a demoralized team which couldn't give a rat's arse any more by then. All in all, i am still overjoyed by the results, and it was a definitely, although not good enough, improvement from the dross they dished out against the French.

Areas for improvement for Ingerlund: Well, one, sad to say, maybe it would be time to give Owen some bench duty, since Vassell looked so much more threatening with the time he was on the pitch, but i guess, being the biased Liverpool supporter that i am, give him one more chance against the Croats. Secondly, dump tell Scholes that when he plays as a left midfielder, he should AT LEAST spend SOME time on the left hand side of the pitch. Either that, or bring in Owen Hargraves and play him in Gerrards position as a "quasi" holding midfielder, as *gasp* (i never knew i would be saying this) play Gerrard as a left midfielder. Yes, yes, yes, i know this is controversial but i do have my rationale for this, since for the first two games, Gerrard's game has been severely restricted as he has been given responsiblity to play in the, what we could say, "Hammann Role", which severely restricts him from getting the ball and running towards opposing defenders like he does in the premiership. I say, give that role to Hargraves, or at least try it out against the Croats, since he did a decent job against the Swiss when he came on, and let Gerrard roam the left hand flank like he did. I must say that Gerrard looked much more effective and threatening there. Ideally he would have taken the role that Lampard or Beckham is taking, but since Lampard is also having a decent tournament so far, and Beckham, well, let's not go there, and we do want Gerrard in a more advanced role, left midfield looks promising.

It's Benitez It Is
Well, we could see this coming, and it was just a matter of time. At last the whole shennanigans regarding the managerial position at Liverpool has at last been sorted out. Also, out goes Phil Thompson as well, and i can only guess that "Rafa" will bring with him his trusted assistant from Valencia. Now that this is all sorted out, he should get down to business and sort out some outstanding stuff like certain situations we have with Owen and Gerrard, more so Gerrard if you ask me. It is a tad bit unsettling, and my faith in his loyalty towards the club has indeed been shaken reading some of the articles stating phrases like "31 million quid", "130 pounds a week wages", "training ground bust up with Carragher", "Benitez flying to Portugal to convince Gerrard to stay" and also Parry publicly expressing his concerns over Gerrard. My opinion is that ONLY Chelsea would be his destination IF he were to leave, and the only reasons that I can see him leaving is that if Rafa is not able to convince him that what he plans to do with the club is acceptable to Gerrard. I am also worried that the fact that Gerrard was completely distraught (as reports would suggest) over the sacking of Houllier, who he holds high regards of. However, this situation will only get sorted out probably after Euro 2004, and if he does indeed leave, it would be a very sad day for me as I myself hold Gerrard in high regard, ESPECIALLY in the area of loyalty to the club, and I would like to think that as the captain of the club that he has been supporting since his childhood years, he would be proud to lead the team under a new management, into a new era of Liverpool Football Club, well, at least for another year to see where it is going under a new managament, and if it still doesn't work out, then by all means f*ck off. However, if he does leave to Chelsea this summer after Euro 2004, then i guess money does indeed talk much louder than.. pretty much everything else.

Signing off to get some rest before the Spain Portugal match, so that i am not in such a comatose state at work tomorrow.

They blew it

What a major cock up. Now I know how those Bayern Munich fans must have felt on THAT day. Leading 1-0 after 90 minutes with only 3 minutes of stoppage time, and what do you do? Why, you needlessly concede a freekick, and then the keeper position himself badly to perpetually *watch* the ball sail into the net, then make a superb defense splitting pass, only that it's to a player from the opposite team and its towards your goal, and that also doesn't take into account the fact that you missed a penalty to wrap up the game after 20 minutes time by taking a shot even my grandmother could have predicted.

OK, i think i shall cool down a bit now. I am sure that there will be many many finger pointing activities going around in the world of the England supporters right now, and rightly so. However for me, my finger will be pointing first towards the tactics that they were playing that night. To tell you the truth, from the way that they played, whatever Sven Goran Eriksson has been blabbering to the press about his "confidence" in the England team to match the French, is absolutely horse shit. From the way that he set out the English team to play, it was just so damn obvious that he was oh so scared of the French team, but playing with 8 defenders and Rooney and Owen. I mean, thats the sort of tactics teams like Malaysia would employ against the French team. Defend for your life, and if you're lucky, hit them on the break or through a set piece. I do agree that against a team like the French, ANY team should play with caution, but not to the extent of what the English were doing. It was just so obvious what they were doing.

I don't really feel like writing much about the game as I am still disillusioned by what happened. Truth be told, for me, i think a draw would have been a fair result since both sets of players didn't really show us what they could do. Players from the French side like Pires and Henry couldn't reproduce their form that they have consistently shown for Arsenal almost every week, while Zidane, although he made himself pretty busy and got involved in the middle of the park, couldn't offer much imagination to penetrate the eight man English wall. Players from the English side i guess didn't play any better as well, with Gerrard disciplined but quiet shielding the English back four, and had an OK game until he made the mistake he will never repeat in his life again, while el "Golden Balls" Kapitan other than his goal assisting free kick and "golden opportunity to wrap up the game" missing spot kick was virtually anonymous the rest of the game. (Now come to think of it even more, why on earth the much lesser known teams, like Greece the other night, never have any issues when it comes to penalty taking?!! ). Even Owen, i didn't notice that he was playing until he got substituted for Darius Vassell.

The bright side of it is, it can't get any worse than this right? OK, actually come to think of it, i CAN DEFINITELY be worse, but I guess against teams like Switzerland and Croatia, Eriksson would (and indeed SHOULD) dump the ultra negative tactics and let the players express themselves freely on the pitch. More of the same from the Iceland game PLEASE. Also, Rooney also showed glimpses of why he is so highly rated in the England camp. The highlight would of course be him running past the French defence and enticing Silvestre into conceeding a penalty.

OK enough of that. I think I will be sleeping early tonight, since I was absolutely struggling to stay awake in the office. Need.. sleep... Bed... Mmm... Now i can start to think of how cool it would be to be driving the new Merc SLR. Sweeeet...

Surviving the first night of Euro2004

Had an absolutely tiring day yesterday, with work and all, and then my normal dose of futsal in the afternoon to ensure that by the time the Portugal and Greece game kicked off, i was barely able to stay awake at the mamak stalls. Actually, it was a pretty sad game for the Portuguese team, and it is hard to admit, but from the game, it would seem like Rui Costa looks a bit past it, since they had a much better game in the second half once Deco came in and took over the "playmaker" role from him. From the first half, it was all Portugal with possession and Greece defending for ther lives, but sad to say, the Portuguese team looked as if they didnt have any ideas on how to unlock the Greece defence.

I was feeling really tired so i decided to head home during halftime, and by the time i reached home, the game had already started. It looked pretty promising with the changes that they made at half time, with Deco and Ronaldo coming in, with the latter strutting out his step overs and all. However, once i settled down in my seat, what does the Portuguese boy wonder do? With a sudden rush of blood, he accidentally trips a Greece player in his own box and conceeds a penalty. Penalty taken, (which was a pretty good one, i must say. How come these "smaller" teams never have a problem with penalty takers?!), game over of Portugal, i couldn't bare to watch any more, so i decided to get some shut eye before the Spain match. I read that in stoppage time, the Portuguese team actually did manage to score, courtesy of a Cristiano Ronaldo "header".

Actually I woke up at 200pm, and flicked on the TV only to find a local football programme being shown. I thought to myself, OK, this could be interesting, so decided to check it out. Five minutes into the show, once i saw Haliza Misbun (it was her right? I think ) attempting to show that she can indeed act like a brainless monkey, i thought to myself, "this is absolutely frigging SAD". Turn off the TV, alarm clock set to 245am (when the game ACTUALLY started).

The Spain Russia match (well, the bits of it that i managed to watch, considering I was continously falling asleep and waking up) was a much much better affair. It seemed like an end to end sort of game and the tempo was pretty fast. I though Vincente and Exteberria, both playing on the Spanish wings, had a pretty decent game for Spain. Both Morientes and Raul had a bright first 10 minutes or so, before both of them just faded away. At the end fo the first half, still 0-0, i decided to myself that i needed my sleep and switched off the telly. I read that on 60 minutes or so, the Spanish team made changes and brought in Valeron, who scored the winning goal with his first touch of the game.

Anyway, thats the first night of many in the coming month which i think i'll be staying up to watch games on telly. I have absolutely no idea how i am gonna be able to wake up tomorrow morning to watch the England France match and manage to turn up at work in a non-comatised state. One thing though, did anybody notice that Shebby Singh was just struggling to express his opinions in Malay during the show?

Looking forward to the weekend?

HELL YEAH!! Well, sort of.

List of things to look forward to the weekend
1. EURO2004
2. EURO2004
3. EURO2004
4. EURO2004
5. EURO2004
6. EURO2004
....

OK, yeah, we're gonna be back in business. I know it's not gonna be Liverpool, but as a football fanatic myself, any sort of football action is better than nothing. And this is not any football action, it's THE FRIGGIN' EURO2004 we're talking about here. The second largest football tournament on earth! Oh, I am soo looking forward to "staying up late to watch matches at ungodly hours of the morning and then to be spending the rest of the day in the office in a perpetual comatose state". Seriously, when was the last time i did any of this? I mean, World Cup 2002 was in Asia, so all matches were on decent hours (including the Brazil v England match which i missed cos i couldn't get off work!!), and Euro2000, well, was in Europe and i was still in London at that time. World Cup 98 was in France (still in London) and Euro 96 (It's coming home, it's coming home) was in bloody London as well. So the LAST time i had to stay up late to watch a major football tournament was probably World Cup 1994. Man!! That was AGES ago!

Team to support
England, well, no difficult to choose, with me being an England fan and all. Need to dig up and find my England jersey. I used to have the Euro 96 white England jersey (one of the best ones they had, and nothing lately comes close to it), however, sadly, it got lost during the times when i was packing up in London.

Teams to watch
Holland, a team with stars and skill. Although they do have the tendency to self destruct, like in World Cup 2002 in Japorea, where they totally disappointed me there.

Spain, the perennial under achievers, and I guess the team that just somehow ALWAYS manage to lose their bottle once they reach the finals. I hope they do well this year, especially with playes like Raul, Morientes, Joaquim.

France, sad to say, but the Arsenal connection is going to make or break this team this time. If the trio of Henry, Pires and Viera click together, and put into that Zidane and Trezegol as well, can you see me salivating here?

Portugal, home team, last chance saloon for the players from their so called "Golden Generation". I like this team as they have loads of attacking players with flair, like Figo and Rui Costa.

Czech Republic, i think they are the dark horses, but they have several quality players as well, like Tomas Rosicky (who is being linked to Liverpool) and Milan Baros, who has 50-1 odds to win the tournament's Golden Boot award

Players to watch
Steven Gerrard - I think this tournament is the tournament that will make him into an world class international player. He has been carrying Liverpool throughout the season on his own, and if he can achieve the same feat, the sight of the English players lifting the cup might become reality.

Rafael van der Vaart - I've heard so much of him, seen so much of him on CM4 as a wonderkid, I just want to see him in action in real life and see whether he can live up to all the Championship Manager hype.

Fernando Morientes - He has proved himself in the Champions League this year and I would LOVE to see him partner up front with Raul, leading the Spanish attack at Euro2004. He might just be the player who actually brings the Spanish team to another level. If that happens, then it would be the perfect way for him to give a "F*CK YOU" back to Real Madrid, especially after the way that they have treated him, to make way for the so called "Galacticos".

Kim Kallstrom - Another one of those CM4 wonder-players who are actually decent players in real life. Would like to see how good he is in the flesh playing for Sweden, who, now come to think of it, also has a pretty decent team as well, with Larsson and Ibrahimovic up front. But they do still have Ljunberg playing, so they must be crap. Ha Ha!

Wayne Rooney - I know, as a Liverpool supporter, it's quite difficult to actually support one of those bluenoses. However, for this little kid (He is 18 or something right), i am willing to take an exception. This tournament could make him an international superstar, however, like what i read in Football365, I also have a strange feeling that during the wee hours of Monday morning, after 60 minutes, we will see him, heads down, being replaced by Emile Heskey.

Prediction
For my predictions as of who would be crowned the next Euro Champions, I would have said that Spain would have an excellent chance, if only they didn't have their absymal record of being tagged as "the team that ALWAYS lose their bottle at the finals". Portugal as well should have an excellent chance of winning, especially with them playing at home and all. Germany and Italy, it's hard to say, and somehow i just don't prefer the brand of football that they play as well. Holland *could* make it far as well, but as per all Major Final tournaments, the sounds of discontent in the Holland camp are slowly starting to be heard as well. France, I am pretty sure, would be somewhere up there as well, but although I am sure they would be leaving us all "breathless" with all their flair and attacking prowess, the fact that they still have Dessailly and Barthez at the back, just makes me feel that they might be leaving major holes at the back as well.

However, I am gonna stick my head out here and say England (or it could just be me being the biased England supporter i am )has a GREAT chance of winning this trophy this season if they play with Gerrard and Lampard in the center, and I have a feeling that this tournament could see Rooney burst into the international spotlight as well.

Quotes

"You know what my grandmother used to say? If you want to make God laugh... tell Him your plans"
Amores perros

"Friendship is always a sweet responsibilty, never an opportunity"
Kahlil Gibran

Where will you be....?

Have been absolutely busy these past few days and all, and have been staying in the office extremely late, until the wee hours of the morning. Like last night for example, the work that i had to do just kept coming and coming and coming non stop, and without me noticing it, it was already 11pm and i had to FORCE myself to shutdown my laptop and leave. Sad? Absolutely! Necessary? Unfortunately. Watched two movies at the end of last week which I am surprised now, thinking about it, that i actually found the time to head off and spend 2 hours plus a time, idle, just sitting in the cinema. However, it was good fun and it did keep my mind off more pressing matters which i just did not want to think about at that particular time.

First movie that i watched was the Roland Emmerich "Doomsday thriller", "The day after tomorrow" (or "Lusa" as what some of my colleagues call it). Its one of those mega-budget, blow your brains away with over the top special effects and CGI and hope you don't notice the absolutely ridicilous plot line. Basically what happens in this 2 hours and 4 minutes of film is, the hero, Professor Adrian Hall (Quaid) finds out that due to us humans continously polluting the environment, earth will, in a million years, due to some scientific mumbo jumbo reasoning that he tried to explain, which I just failed to comprehend after the first few lines, experience another ice age which would wipe out all living creatures as the previous one. Obviously, the deputy President of the United States would laugh at his over the top suggestions , and obviously the hero will be proven right, well sort of right since his timing was way way WAY off as it happened within a few weeks, not a few hundred years!

So what happens then? His son finds himself in New York for joining some quiz competition to be spending some more time with the girl (which initially, i wouldn't have mind either, but after seeing her absolute stupidity of just keeping quiet and walking around like everything's fine and dandy while a whole chunk of her leg has been ripped off, i had my doubts), and surprise surprise, New York would be one of the first places to be hit by the storm. So, after finally convincing the Deputy President of the US of A that shit is indeed happening, and saying stuff like "Save as much as you can" and telling people to move as far south as possible, our hero goes against everyone and goes up north so save his son (initially he was planning to go BY HIMSELF, but obviously his two buddies would follow him, right?), because he is the hero of the movie, and only the hero as his gang of merry men would be able to survive ultra freezing temperatures that even the oil in the tanks of helicopters would freeze in a matter of a few seconds. Yes, he is the MAN. Actually, I just cannot be asked to write much more on this, but i just have to mention that the ending is just SUCH a rip off. ** Spoiler Alert**. I mean, at the end of the day, the "greatest storm ever experienced by mankind" just suddenly decided, "hey, i'm tired of all this" and just DECIDED TO STOP WITHOUT ANY PARTICULAR REASON. When I saw that, i was thinking to myself, "What the ****?!!". In the end, he saves his kid and some other people, and everyone is happy.

At the end of the day, if you can see past the major flaws in the movie, such as the scene where the ultra freezing cold temperature "chases" the guys from the back, up the stairs and all, while freezing everything else that it comes across, only to be stopped in it's tracks by, get this, a WOODEN door!!, (and come to think of it, i read somewhere else something that didn't come cross my mind a that time, that the kids were burning the books to keep the fire buring when there were tons of WOOD, like the chairs and all laying around. A normal person like me would have thought that burning the wood would be a much better idea, only to be corrected when they used the wooden chairs as "snow shoes" (is that what u call them) for them to go outside in search of medication for the poor little girl, only for them to be chased by ultra huge wolves which can survive ultra freezing weather), basically, it IS an entertaining movie. You just need to shut your brains off and be mesmerized by stunning scenes of water flooding through the streets of manhattan, and also don't miss the scene which i personally find absolutely hilarious and ironic, where you see American citizens illegally crossing over the border to Mexico, where some of them actually were cutting the barded wires in order to get through.

I think i've written enough for now. The other movie which i saw was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which i think i'll write about a bit later. "Lusa" gets 3/5 stars for the special effects, 4/5 stars just for the scene of Americans crossing over the border, -5/5 stars for an absolutely ridicilous plot line, 3/5 stars for Emmy Rossum, and -2.5/5 stars for her character being an absolute idiot. So all in all, "The day after tomorrow" gets 2.5 / 5 stars. Cheers.

Malaysia Hall London closes it's doors

I just read that they have officially closed down Malaysia Hall in London sometime early this week, (It was Tuesday if i am not mistaken) and Malaysia Hall has been moved to somewhere in Bayswater, to a more "economically viable" location. I read this news with mixed feelings since a lot of my memories of my five years in London and UK at one point of time or another does include Malaysia Hall. Like celebrating Hari Raya every year, by gathering in the freezing cold outside Malaysia Hall after the raya prayers there. The roads would be filled with Malaysians from all around UK, who travel all the way just to meet up with friends (and sometimes family). Or waking up on a Sunday morning and going all the way there to have your (overpriced, but what did we care) teh tarik and nasi lemak. Or, me and my friends going to pray Terawikh prayers there during fasting month so that we could have good Malaysian food cooked by the Malaysians who are staying and working in London which was served after the prayers. Malaysia Hall was the first place that i went to when i first reached London. It sad to see it's closing down it's doors now, but i guess they are moving to a better place with better facilities. Things will definitely be different in London the next time i go there, but what stays the same forever anyway.

128 more medical students

I was reading with great interest these past few days about the saga of the 128 "top scorers" that didn't get admittance into the local universities to read medicine, and also didn't even receive one of their top 6 (or was it nine) choices of courses to study. Actually i have a several points that i read that i feel are very very interesting points to ponder about.

Firstly, why on earth did it have to go all the way up to the Prime Minister to make the decision on whether to take them all in or not. I mean we already have a Higher Education (and Lower Education mind you) ministry already to handle all of this. Can't these people handle it themselves? Also, what steps are being taken to prevent this from happening next year? Will the PM have to step in again next year and do this all over again? This situation has happened so many times before and still i do not see any change in the situation, and from the way i see it, it will be happening time and time again until someone just bites the bullet and makes some changes.

Secondly, there obviously is a very valid reason why the universities have what they call "quotas" on the number of students that they are going to admit in a year and I am pretty sure, before the 128 students are being admitted, they have already filled up their quota of the year. So the "soalan cepu emas" here is, where on earth are the 128 slots to cater for these additional students are going to appear from? Are building and labs going to miracilously appear out of nowhere? Will there suddenly be huge increase of medical lecturers that will just drop from the sky? In reality, what will eventually happen is, classrooms in the universities will have to cater for more students and the lecturer / tutor to student ration will decrease, and hence universities *might not* be able to produce the quality of education that might be required to nurture these young medical students into future doctors. Universities have a right to decline additional students, top scorer or not, as the number of places allocated in the universities have been filled up. It happens everywhere else in the world.

Thirdly, what about the other top students that wanted to do subjects like engineering, or business and were not given a place in a university under the same circumstances? I am sure there are MORE of these students out there and what will happen if suddenly all of them decide to go to the papers with some other politician. Will the government bow again and make the classes in universities even more cramped and tutors and lecturers even more stretched out?

I am extremely happy for the 128 students do eventually get to study the course of their choices, and i am pretty sure that they are top students in their field and all. However, I am a bit alarmed at the way that some of them have reacted throughout the whole saga. I mean, everyone has disappointments (and i am sure the possibility of not getting to read medicine IS a HUGE one for them), but what makes a person is the way that one would act in the face of adversity. Sometimes you just need to accept the fact that you wont always get what you want to do, no matter how hard you try. That's a fact of life. There are other career paths out there that are just as honorable as being an MD, it's just the way you see it. You can only play with the cards that you are dealt with. It does't mean, though, that if you come across the first hurdle, just accept defeat and get on with life, but only after trying your best, and you still don't succeed, it's not the end of the world, and life does go on.

These 128 students can consider themselves extremely lucky that the government did them a major favour by re-opening the doors for them and i hope that they do eventually end up being good ethical Malaysian medical professionals that contribute to the country and society. In another country, like in UK for example, they will have been so lucky. I know a LOT of people, some of them my friends, some are not, who were top scorers as well, who didn't get admitted to medical school there since the universities there are extremely strict when it comes to admitting a student for medicine and are also very strict when it comes to their quota, since they do not want to compromise the quality of the education that they offer. When someone comes into an interview and says "Hey, i am a top scholar with straight A's", they will come back and answer "Whoopeedo... So what? We have thousands of other straight A applicants. What makes you stand out from them? What makes you think you will become a good doctor just by getting straight A's?"

That, after a few years out of studying, I myself have come to realize. Living life is not just about getting your straight A's and your top marks, but it is also about how you react to adversity and failure that is the true judge of one's character. Do you go home and cry to your mummy complaining that the world has some grudge on you, or you stand up and face it all like a man and move on. It's these times that seperate the weak from the strong.

Quote

Don't let things happen, MAKE things happen

Benitez quits Valencia

It has been reported that Benitez, coach of Valencia, and hot favorite for the Anfield hotseat, has just resigned. I guess it would seem most likely that he will be heading to Merseyside soon. We shall wait and see, but it is getting darn interesting. Lets also see if the rumours of him bringing along Ayala and Aimar are true. *drool* *drool* If only...

Missing black holes found

A black hole in an active galaxy is surrounded by a torus, a donut-shaped disk of gas and dust that hides the inner region, as seen in this artist's rendering. As the black hole consumes some of the material, it also superheats some and shoots it out along the galaxy's axis of rotation, in two jets of matter shown here in light blue

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5085374/