Man Utd ASIA TOUR - KL

By the time I wrote this, Man Utd has already cancelled their tour to Jakarta as the result of the another terrorist bombing. Deep inside, I felt very lucky since I chose to watch them at KL, but on the other hand, I felt sad and sorry for the Indonesian fans, because this chance won't come easily even for the next decade.

Watching Man Utd live match is perhaps one of my biggest dream which I'm trying my best to make it come true. Nevertheless, just like my sis said, even watching them not at Old Trafford can be considered as 'small dream' comes true. Can't agree more !!! Just like watching Coldplay live concert back few months ago, this experience was unforgettable. The difference is that, now I'm able to bring Suri with me, along with my high school bud and his girlfriend. Correct me if I'm wrong, on this rare occasion, the more the merrier (well, the girls won't mind, since they have someone to accompany them now).

So, in brief, I can say that the trip to KL this time was both exciting and exhausting. This time, we went by plane instead of bus (upgrade the transport), and stayed at cheap and 'so-so' hotel (degrade the accommodation, ha3). The event was held for two days, where on Friday was the training session, and the Saturday was the match against the Malaysia XI.

Only for this event, I brought my 2 Man Utd jersey (08/09 away blue, and 07/08 away white) and some t-shirts with Man Utd attributes. Too bad I didn't bring the Red one, cause I left it back at Jakarta. Nevertheless, I'm ready for the match !

First time we went to the stadium, we got 'robbed' or 'kena tipu' by a cab driver. In the beginning, he charged us RM30, then because of the traffic jam, later on he asked for additional fare. Then I asked how much, and he said "Up to you". Okay then, I offered him RM5 more...and u know his reply? "Make it RM40". Asshole, lucky there were 4 of us.

Actually, the training sessions was dull, the exciting thing was that we were able to see the Man Utd players on field with our own eyes (even I have to use binoculars to see them clearly). Well, in my experience, this the closest I can get to them, along with other 50.000 spectators.

There's a funny story after the training session when we want to go back to our hotel. We had to walk to the nearest mall to avoid the traffic jam, so it's easier for us to stop any taxi. Well, eventually, we had to wait for almost an hour, until we can grab one. Now, after 4 times I came to KL, this is the first I took a ride in taxi who had....wait for it....his METER ON !!! Yeah, and it only cost us RM16 to go back in spite of the traffic jam. Lucky for us, the cab driver was kindly enough to offer us the service for the Saturday match (cost us RM18 one way). I'll surely contact him again next time I visit KL.

The next day was more exciting, cause I was gonna watch, for the first time, a live Man Utd match! We arrived at the stadium around 2.30PM, and there was already a massive crowd gathering outside the entrance gate, and yes, most of them were 'RED'. Thanks to my buddy, Adrianto, who bought the ticket, the chose a perfect seat and a nice view toward the field.

After waiting for 2 hours plus, the players entered the field for warming up. Only Vidic, Rafael, Hargreaves, Park, Valencia, and Obertan were missed out the tour. For starting line up, Fergie put Rooney + Berba upfront, then Nani on the left wing, Gibson on the right, plus Scholes and Anderson holding the Mid field, added with the back four, Ferdinand, Evans, O'Shea, and Evra. Means that Fergie was using the traditional 4-4-2, and put Rooney back to his natural position.

To be frank, I'm expecting a dull match, since this is only a warm up match practice for Fergie's men. But it turned out to offer some surprises. Rooney opened up the goal at 9th minute, and gave assist to Nani to score later on. It should be an easy winning, but the home team had different idea (well, thanks to both Man Utd goalkeepers). Yahya managed to score two fluke goals, one near the 1st half added time (lob over Van Der Sar), and the 2nd after substitute Ben Foster made a horrendous error after receiving a backpass.

The match reached 80th minute, and Fergie had used Owen, Giggs, Brown, Fabio, and Macheda, signalling the attacking approach. The high moment of the match was when Owen scored on his debut, on the 80th minute, and gave Man Utd 3-2 win. Not bad for the injury prone player, and I'm looking forward to see him in action for the new season.

It was a memorable time, and exhausting either. We got back to the hotel, had dinner at Jalan Alor for the 2nd night in the row, took a hot bath, and went to sleep with excited feeling. I'm looking forward to watch them live back in their homeground, Old Trafford, perhaps someday in the not to distant future.

Glory glory Man united,

Glory glory Man united,

Glory glory Man united,

As the reds go marching on on on !!!

PS: Through this post, I want to give my condolences for all the Jakarta bombing victims, and for all the Man Utd supporters who were not able to see the match. Let's kick out the terrorists, and hope they all burn in hell!!!

Once again I must ask too much of you, Harry

I managed to get the tickets on the premiere day of the 6^th installments of Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince. I was really eager to catch this one (I even listened to the audio book just to remember the story line), added with so many positive reviews (thanks joblo.com) and mouth to mouth comments, all thes e things even made me dead curious to watch it.

Therefore, I got the tickets for the 9.50 PM show, and in the next morning, I got to wake up early in the morning to catch the flight to KL for the Man Utd Asia Tour...what a whacky nite. I’ll save the story about the KL trip later on. Now, let’s review Hogwarts’ kids in action.

In short, it's the best Potter movie so far, and also the darkest one, which I like it a lot, means it shows the maturity of the whole series, along with growth of the Hogwarts' kids. David Yates successfully translates the book (which I find a little bit boring) into a tremendous movie with some modifications here and there (and they work well). Again, you will see that many scenes from the book was cut down or even changed, which I don't mind at all, cause I enjoyed this 2-hour plus show.

The strong emphasis on this 6th year is put into the teenage love story, and the whole casts are able to deliver a magnificent performance as highly infatuated teenagers with curiosity of their own feelings. Although, the dark story as the background where the real identity of the Dark Lord Voldermort himself was explained bit by bit with the rise of the Dark Army emerging, and all of these concluded with a horrific ending (I bet you all know what I mean). Well, I'm not going to write the story here, since all of you must've been known the story (or even watch it).

From all the cast, I believe Rupert Grint was outstanding, getting better in each new movie, while as Emma Watson is getting hotter! Other thing I've noticed that this is the best Alan Rickman (Snape) perfomance in the whole series, although I felt that he's rather underused. Also, glad to see Bonnie Wright (Ginny) gets more scenes than previous ones (whoa, she's so tall !!!). Too bad we didn't get any of Oldman (Sirius) and Fiennes (Voldermort) in this one. Jim Broadbent as the newest addition of the series, was perfect potraying Slughorn, an ex-Slytherin who got a comeback call from Dumbledore to teach again.

Thumbs up for David Yates, whom I recall the perfect person to hold the director's seat for the last 4 Potter film. It seems he really understand and able to grasp the basic concept of Potter's world and its storyline, especially toward the end of the series, where it's getting darker and intense.

This flick is not just the best of the series, but also (in subjective manner) tie up with Star Trek as the best 2009 summer movie. Can't wait for the latest 2 installments.

My Rating 9/10 --> 1 additional points for both Hermione and Ginny for being hot!

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Marcel Ignatius, B.Arch, Msc (Building Science)

Yup, I’m graduated from my master degree, which means I’m entitled of the additional 3 letters for my name. Apart from that, I got myself also a gold medal as the best building science student, which surprised me as well. I always think that my Serbian friend, Sava, who will be the strongest candidate to obtain the gold medal. Well, not just he was always several steps ahead of me, but he’s also efficient in time management, stay at the library everyday (dunno how many books he has read), his presentations are always top notch, either the layouts or the materials, and many else. I’m grateful enough since we’re always in the same group on every module. It’s like a whip at my ass everytime he gets his jobs done, “Damn, I should work harder”. In the end, I'm surprisingly happy to receive the golden snitch!!! Nevertheless, happy to make my parents proud !!!

My mum and dad came to Singapore on 30^th June, and my commencement day was at 13^th July, means that they spent 2 weeks at my place, which is good. My mum,as usual, did all the cleaning, clothes washing, and helped preparing breakfast. I’m really happy to see them attending my commencement day, see they were smiling all day long on that particular occassion, and thanks to the VIP invitation, they sat at the front row.

I also invited my hunny, Vivi with Chris, along with Agus to add the crowd (and helped bringing my things...he3). Well, since Chris was there, they did some experimenting with photo taking, which end up nicely. Damn, he’s a good choreographer, might as well a good guy to take care my pre-wed pics (I received many comments saying that my graduation pics looks like pre-wed...funny). Another plus thing, it’s glad to have many people attendting the ceremony. Thanks a lot guys.

Other than my own ‘crew’, it was a memorable moment to have a small reunion with my classmates. Erna, Margie, Ros, Aning, Laura, Kee, Phillip, etc....they all are damn funny . Too bad we’ve finished our study since we were starting to get close at the end of the last semester. But nevertheless, we’re planning to hangout again near the future.

To end the perfect day, we had dinner also at the SUN Bistro, a nice restaurant with affordable price, which also comes with a excellent service. This perfect moment was just the beginning of my magnificent 2 weeks.

REGRET

Maybe I've forgotten the name and the address
Of everyone I've ever known
It's nothing I regret
Save it for another day
It's the school exam and the kids have run away

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain of my wounded heart

I was upset you see
Almost all the time
You used to be a stranger
Now you are mine

I wouldn't even trust you
I've not got much to give
We're dealing in the limits
And we don't know who with
You may think that I'm out of hand
That I'm naive, I'll understand
On this occasion, it's not true
Look at me, I'm not you

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain of my wounded heart

I was a short fuse
Burning all the time
You were a complete stranger
Now you are mine

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain about my wounded heart

Just wait till tomorrow
I guess that's what they all say
Just before they fall apart

Notes:

This is one of my favourite song by New Order, I've been listening to them since I was junior high, and it was taken from the album "Republic". Other notable songs which I often listen to are "Bizzarre Love Triangle", "Krafty", and "True Faith". the band was once considered as the main influence of the 90's brit rock bands (i.e Oasis). Check the link below for the youtube video.

Transformers 2 is just overrated!!!

Oh well, here comes the supposedly should have been the biggest summer blockbuster of the 2009. Michael Bay with the robots are back, and they deliver a non-stop action sequences along with giant robots wrestle altogether, and I bet chicks hate that !!!

In short, based on my subjective judgement, this movie was not as good as I expected. Perhaps my expectation was to high? I think my biggest dissapoinment was that TF2 will be the "Dark Knight" of 2009...too bad Michael Bay sits as the director...guess my expectation from him to deliver a big movie with quality scenario...was way TOO HIGH !!! I grow up with Michael Bay, and worship some of his action movies (THE ROCK was his best one, BAD BOYS came in 2nd). He has been successfully satisfied the audiences with the big bang scenes in each film, while on the other department (quote: STORY) has been become more and more mindless.

THE BAD:

I my opinion, to enjoy a movie, whether it is a big budget, indie, romance, action, etc...it should have good plot which I can enjoy following it through. Now, TF2 not just have a terrible script, but also too many holes in the plot (I believe you can google them for more details). The first TF was good, I like it, and enjoy watching it all over again. Perhaps the first has the element of 'surprise', since we were dead curious to see how the robots could make into the big screen in Bay's hands. Now, when the 2nd was made, I assume Bay only has 1 thing in mind....let's make this BIGGER, which comes to my conclusion where TF2 is not just BIG, but also TOO LONG, and TOO MUCH.

The college scenes should have been cut down, Sam's mum was just terribly annoying (this also goes to his roommate), too many Decepticons (I dun even get all their names), terrible plots (travelling around Egypt become so 'easy', the Allspark on Mikaela's bag was pretty damn useless, the military were damn stupid, and suddenly Bumblebee couldn't speak again?), Autobots heaven, etc etc...

And also, Megan Fox...oh my oh my, this foxy was primarily used only for showing cleavage and wearing tight clothes with jeans (her memorable quotes: SAAAMMMMMMM). This girl was underused in the story line, and overused in exposing his...ups...her sensuality (I still need to clarify this boy or girl thing).

THE GOOD:

Action scenes, robots transforming, everyone are hitting and shooting each other, Optimus became so powerful, added with 2 blades in his hands, Bumblebee was also get more fighting scenes, you got destruction everywhere, and all of these things has made me thinking, how the the hell they do it? Yeah, maybe they deserve to get an Oscar for Visual Effects. I was thrilled and enjoyed most of the action scenes, it's like your childhood dream comes to life (yeah, I grew up where all the kids movies related to giants robots).

Useless, but still damn hot!

THE CAST:

From all the utterly useless human cast, I gave thumbs up for Shia Lebouf. I think his performance was the best among the other cast, and much better than his Indy son's character. While the Tyerese Gibson and Josh Duhamel should have been given larger role. I'm glad John Turturro was less irritating, but he's still annoying though.

My Rating : 6.5/10

R.I.P Jacko and Farah Fawcett

Today, the world just lost its two icons...The King of Pop and a Charlie's Angel. Although I didn't follow Farrah Fawcett career track, I knew that she made other decent movies apart from the hit TV-series (move over Drew, Cammy, and Lucy, the original was way much hotter...). Yes, she's a legendary icon.

I wasn't surprised with Fawcett passing, since she's struggling with cancer for the last couple of years. While Jacko...whoa, that struck me early in the morning when I read the headline news.

I grew up with MJ, bought his albums from Thriller until HIStory, this one is irreplaceable. Through all controversy and the child-molester issue, no other pop artist (perhaps apart from The Beatles and Elvis) is bigger that him at the moment. All his songs, the style, the gimmicks, the moonwalking...has become a popular culture of the 80' s and reached its peak at early 90's.

My favorite song is the 'Smooth Criminal', I remember when I was a kid, I played over his 'Bad' album, and repeat this track over and over again. Other memorable tracks are 'Thriller', 'Billie Jean', 'Man In the Mirror', and list can go on and on. Apart from the controversy, his attempt to unify the 'white' and the 'black' color should be appraised. His contribution to several social activities has sent messages to all different kind of people. Even the term 'Heal the World' is still often used for social ads. Too bad for Jacko, he's just several weeks away from his comeback world tour. Just too bad...

In the end, may they rest in peace...and let's still hope that still continue to send the message for our next generation....

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

another night, different museum, looks all the same...

I really enjoyed the Night at the Museum few years ago. I think the idea is fresh, you got Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, and Robin Williams, along with some cavemen, monkeys, annoying Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan, etc...Yeah, the story where all the exhibits come to live became a really good family movie.

The BAD:

Now here comes another installment...the sequel, different places...but I see little added value. But, it has 93 CHARACTERS all along...whoa, i say even if you have 50 different people in a single movie can be considered too much...but now we have almost a hundred...

Another sequel recipe was implemented, bigger, longer, more people, and...still no good. Using the idea where the exhibits come to life during the night was okay, but if you just added more people to join the rumble without giving more incentives, it tends to become boring in some parts. The old dudes didn't give much (cavemen, Attila, Dexter, etc)...even the new ones such as General Custer acts like an idiot (Bill Hader can do more than that!!!)...Stiller's kid was underused, and I think he should play some parts in the museum also. Ricky Gervais was also suffered the same thing...only plays in the beginning and the end, c'mon...he can be funnier than Owen Wilson..!!!

Amy, oh Amy....

The GOOD:
AMY ADAMS !!! yeah, this girl rocks...I can't say I could enjoy the movie without her. I know it may sounds absurd, but everytime she comes on the the screen, it added the interest value...call me strange, but this girl is hot !!!

Luckily, we got helped by a good performance by Stiller and Azaria as the main focus of the story (although I still felt that Azaria accent was strange). The cameos also played well, especially in the beginning where Jonah Hill had funny conversation with Stiller. Other cameos came up from different TV sitcoms (30 rock, the Office, and SNL). Robin Williams, as usual, always entertain us with his adequate performance.

Overall, it's an okay movie, but I can see that making a 3rd installment will be a stupid idea.

My Rating : 6.5/10

Thanks for wasting my time, Dreamworks

This message goes to....wait for it...MONSTERS & ALIENS....

I'm not gonna write too much about it....cause it's too bad and ugly to watch....

No plot, not funny, stupid villain, the heroes are even worse, no alienS, just ONE annoying alien with too much eyes, crappy 3D, and the list goes and on and on and on....

Dreamworks, my gosh...spend ur film budget to hire an appropriate scriptwriter, rather than to spend it on A-class actors...just to talk 2-3 liners...

The only good thing about this movie is Seth Rogen as B.O.B, his jokes were the only one to make me laugh a little....

My Rating : 4/10

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Star Trek, the new frontier..

The main challenge of making remakes, especially if it already has a solid homebase fan and is a part of sci-fi culture...(such as STAR TREK)...is how to satisfy both ends...the loyal and the new generation. Mind you, in recent years, sci-fi seems out of interest, I can hardly recall any good sci-fi movie nowadays (especially dealings with outer space).

Talking about the Star Trek, their recent movies could not live up the hype also. I even skipped the last one (Nemesis) since I knew that Data was dead at the end (they even used it for promoting the film...dumbheads)....The latest decent Trek movie was First Contact, cause they got the story right, and all the Enterprise crew got their on-screen portion equally.

How about the new one by J.J Abrams? In short...BEST 09 summer movie so far...(I haven't watched Transformers, Harry Potter, Public Enemies, and UP, but still, this flick will stay at my top 3 for this year).

Abrams got all the ingredients right, especially by changing the mood and Star Trek style of story telling, by injecting the modern cinematic experience (which I mean by the story pace, action, handsome casting, sexy moments, etc). Just like a typical Bourne movie, the new Trek movie didn't leave us much for a break. I like the proportional of the action sequences and the sci-fi elements, they were combined perfectly (at least I knew lots of girls like this movie, means this works not only for nerds!).

The opening was awesome...you got the Villain, the action, the touching elements, the motives...then you know that this flick got a STORY to tell. What a good recipe for a summer movie afterall.

Spock + Kirk = the dynamic duo

The casting, oh my oh my...Chris Pine (Kirk) did his job well, Zachary Quinto (Spock) really resembled the old Spock (yesss, they spoke to each other on-screen), Eric Bana was hardly recognized, but really he was an annoying villain (which is good), the rest...John Cho, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, and Simon Pegg (damn, his part was quite brief!!!)...get their parts proportionally...

Can't wait to watch this movie all over again...

Kirk : So what type of combat training do you have?
Sulu : Fencing.

My Rating : 9/10

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Spent my weekdays...

Last few days, I watched 'The Wrestler', and 'Defiance', and couple series of CSI Vegas and Grey's Anatomy. I think the Wrestler is a good movie, but I didn't like the ending, I felt betrayed cause we had to make our own conclusion about the aftermath of Randy the Ram, after he did his final move...what the hell was that? Overall, Mickey Rourke gave a solid performance as an outdated wrestler...If I must say, this movie is a one-man show of Randy 'the Ram', but dun forget Marisa Tomei also, who's starting to showing more of her skin.

'Defiance', on the other hand, is a good movie at the beginning, until I get bored towards the middle...and the war choreographer was suck...looks unreal for me. I think they are chasing for PG13 rating or so. Good to see Daniel Craig played different role than Bond. Other than that, this is a decent movie but it is a little bit too long.

Now, the talking point, no more Gil Grissom in CSI, replaced by the new character played by Laurence Fishburne. Too bad, they will make a hell of a team together, unfortunately, there can be only 1 leader. In my opinion, Gil Grissom is by far, the smartest character ever created on TV series, especially when dealing with crime investigation. Never used any guns, his brains and the way of thinking was remarkable, although his love interest story was kinda....'cold'...or sucks in my opinion...But still, CSI LV is my favourite TV series...and it's 9th season gonna end soon. Hopefully we can see Grissom more in the future...

Grey's Anatomy...Meredith...I hate you even more...make up your mind please...Derek, pls find other girlfriend, leave meredith, or leave the series!!!....Yang, you're the most 'realistic' person in the series...keep it that way. Izzie, get a LIFE!!! Lexie, pls stay away from this hospital...find your own life...your sister doesn't take care of you enough...Sloan, you're a good man so far this season...the rest of the crew was doin...'okay'. In the end, this series need something to boost up the story, cause it's starting to make me bored and exhausted...

I'm planning to finish 3rd season of Dexter, and watch the unwatched episodes of 30 rock and the Office, and maybe follow up 7th season of 24...