Friday Music - Giorgio Moroder

Giogio (Hansjoerg) Moroder (a Mario Bro spitting image with his really thick mustache) Italian musician/producer from the 70's , godfather of synthesizer movement, the precursor to new wave, house and techno music. He founded the Oasis Records. He won three Academy Awards for the Soundtrack for "Midnight Express", "Take my Breath Away" from Top Gun and "Flashdance" - "What a Feeling..Flashdance". He has collaborated with Blondie, Cheap Trick, David Bowie,Donna Summer, Liza Minelli etc.... the list goes on. Enjoy!!!

Wed Movie! Inception

Wednesday Movie

INCEPTION

I watch this movie last week with Benjamin. I notice today there are discussion in my Facebook with two different groups of friends, so I guess it is generating a lot of interest.

The idea of the movie is to be able to enter someones dream, or create a dream from a third person by an architect (sounds matrix like) and steal secrets. It gets complicated when a dream within a dream is created up to 4 levels ("?! I'm not too sure) . You need to really concentrate throughout the movie. But it is pretty easy with some good actors including Leo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (the kid from "Third Rock from the Sun") and Tom Hardy (I like him and found out his playing Mad Max in the next sequel - I guess Mel is getting on and a bit unpopular at the moment). I believe Hardy would be a good candidate for James Bond.

The movie was directed by Christopher Nolan which has his dark and gloomy presence about it just like the last two Batmen movies directed by him. I believe it was about 150 minutes of continuous entertaining and enjoyable concentration to keep up with the movie. Visually stunning.

Congrats to the Sabah Team!!!

SUPER LEAGUE HERE WE COME … Sabah players, coaches and officials pose for the camera after their short meeting at the Likas Stadium yesterday.

Congrats to the Sabah Team for getting promoted with style and grit when needed. I watched the second last match with my son last week when there were tied for second with a poorer goal difference. They need a win and PKNS needed to lose the final game. It happened!! Managed to catch the Sabah game on ASTRO where they scored in the 4th minute and played ugly to win! They have been promoted to the Malaysian Super League!! A bug thank you to the coach Gary Phillips who has added discipline and composure to the team.

from http://www.sabahrhinos.com/2010/07/sabah-thrilled-to-be-back-in-the-top-flight-after-five-year-absence/#more-1170

Sabah thrilled to be back in the top flight after five-year absence

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source: the Star
PETALING JAYA: Sabah are on cloud nine over getting back to play in the Super League after a lapse of five years.
The Rhinos had gone on a roller-coaster ride this season in the Premier League but ended up pipping PKNS to a second-place finish in the 12-team competition.
Sabah beat Pos Malaysia 1-0 in their final fixture to take their tally to 48 points while PKSN crashed to a 1-2 defeat by a depleted Harimau Muda (national Under-19) side. Both teams went into the final fixtures tied on 45 points with PKNS having a vastly superior goal difference.
Sabah thus joined Felda United as the promoted sides to the top flight next season. Felda had taken an unassailable lead at the top of the table going into their match against Armed Forces and they settled for a goalless draw to finish their campaign on 50 points.
Sabah chief coach Gary Phillip said that they were glad Harimau Muda did them a favour by beating PKNS while his men did just enough to pull through.
“I guess the football god favoured Sabah,” said the Australian.
In fact, Sabah would not have been in such an agonising situation. They were even in the driver’s seat at one stage to clinch the Premier League title but lost ground with a draw against Muar Municipal Council (1-1) and defeat by lowly USM FC of Penang (0-1),
“We let our guard down after the six-week break for the World Cup Finals but I am glad the boys showed character to bounce back and pick up the runners-up spot,” said Phillip, who will now prepare the team for the 16-team Malaysia Cup competition in September.
“We have to be realistic of our chances in the Malaysia Cup, especially when we will be in the company of the likes of Selangor, Kelantan and the other big guns. We have spoken to a couple of players to get them on loan to strengthen the team for the competition.”
Harimau Muda coach Ong Kim Swee sympathised with PKNS and felt that they were too tense in their approach to win the game.
“Our boys did well even with an under-strength side. I am happy for Sabah as I have played for them before,” said Kim Swee, who featured for the Rhinos between 1994 and 1998.
PKNS had hoped to make a name for themselves in the mainstream of Malaysian football after having been reduced to a feeder role to their state side, Selangor, and back-up squads in the second-tier of the M-League since 1998.
But their dreams have been dashed again. The consolation for finishing third was qualification for the Malaysia Cup competition as one of the top four teams in the Premier League. Felda, Sabah, PKNS and Armed Forces will join the top 12 teams in the Super League for the competition.

Friday Music - Blondie

Blondie started in the Mid 70's and got big in the 80's. The lead singer Debbie Harry at that time was every boys dream girl. Introduced in the early 80's to me by my brother Mike. They had an eclectic mix of music that compasses raggae, pop, disco and rap (!). The song "Call Me" was made famous in Rigard Gere's movie "American Gigolo". The first song I heard was "Heart of Glass". Below are my favourites "Sunday Girl" and "Denis".

Wed Movie! Shawshank Redemption

Wednesday Movie

Shawshank Redemption

One of my all time favourites that was a pleasant surprise when I first watch it. It inspired me, that there is hope when there seem none...even if you have to crawl through crap as “Andy” (Tim Robbins) did. It taught me about perseverance, a good plan, execution, patience and good wise friends. It is ageless. It was a box office certified flop when it was first release (but was a critic favorite) but it has now a cult following.
I made time to watch it again at the end of last year on my own during Christmas break in Sydney and enjoyed as when I watched it the first time.

For the full plot wiki it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption

The trailer

Things to Do with My Son - Watching Football

My son remarked one day when we passed Likas Stadium that he wanted to watch football at the stadium.

I used to watch Sabah Football Weekly without fail in the 90's and early 2000 but was disenchanted by the game fixing scandal that caused the careers of some players in the team.

I was definitely curious how the team was doing so I got myself the New Sabah Times to check. The team third, tied on points with the second team, had two games left with one home game on the 16th July 2010 against Melaka (lower recess of the table).

I then decided to attend and bring along my seven year old son the experience of attending a real game. Now you must understand when I used to attend we had partisan capacity crowd of 35,000 with number seats. We had to arrive about an hour before the game.

Today it is very different, we left the house 30 minutes before the game time. Found a parking at the Asrama right next to the Stadium.When I bought the ticket for RM12, I found out that 14 year olds and younger get in for freeeeeeee. There was maybe about a thousand people max, very different from the old days.

The game started with the usual lineup and handshaking. Kickoff and Sabah had an early lead and I was expecting a thrashing. However the defense decided to give away a goal. I am still upset with the No. 2("Buuuuuuuuudddooooh!!!!!!") And as usual I started shouting at the opponent, at the Sabah players (especially that idiot No.2) and of course the referee. Somehow I have this ability to transform into another person when I watch games (even on TV at home). Sabah scored two more goals before the half ended with the score 3-1. We left early to beat the crowd to get some food and drinks and of course the toilet (which was smelly but clean!).

So while waiting for the second half I ask Tristan how he found it so far. "You freaked me out dad! you shout so loud." Maybe slightly out of embarrassment, however I told him to get used to it!

I became a fashion police when I photographed a guy wearing a purple jacket with fake fur collar. Ooi buddy this is a tropical country but then again a free one. Must be a Prince fan!

The second half was eventful with Sabah scoring 5 more goals to make it 8. However they did let in another silly goal. To be fair no.2 wasn't at fault.

The standard has definitely dropped but it is the second tier league. I am happy to note that they do have a good back bone in the team - the goalie, 1 or 2 defenders, the midfield is strong but sometimes really lazy to cover for the defenders and the strikers are decent. Looking forward to next season.

What Not to do as a father!! - The drive thru carwash

Ahhhh My first kid, Ashe my daughter, I was then a father in training on how to traumatize my kids!! Being the first kid and Cinda (the wife) who travelled a bit to visit her family in Australia and KL. I didn't spend as much time with her alone. Cinda being a wise mother didn't leave Ashe with me alone knowing my incompetence.

However when Ashe was nearing one years old, Cinda wanting some adult company (I guess she doesn't considers me an adult) & was invited by a friend to assist in an event with the Prime Minister attending (as side note she got to pin the corsage and realize that Tun M is height challenged)

So I decided to pass the time, I took Ashe for a drive around KK, doing the father bonding thing. I decided to wash the car because it was grimy and decided the drive thru to entertain Ashe.

We got in parked in the auto wash. The water spray started and Ashe started to freak out. I had to get off her baby chair and she jumped to the front and hug me very tightly like her life depended on it.

She is now 12 and I will check with her if there was any major phsycholigical damage or if she even remembers  the event.

World Cup 2010

Ahhh withdrawals, the World Cup is over!!!! What will I do?! So we had the German team playing like the Dutch and the Dutch playing like the Germans. Now there are media are leaking that the Germans are a bit "soft". I don't care they played one of the most attractive and Goal (!) leaden games in the World Cup. Enjoyed most of their games except the England game. I was backing the mentally challenged English team. The problem with them they think too highly of themself. They should just go out and play their game and enjoy it!

For the Dutch....well if you have a Van Bommel and De Jong in the team use them. They were very good at disrupting their opponents. The Dutch played hard football that bordered playing dirty and we are not used to the Dutch playing that way. When you mention Netherlands I would think of Cruff, Bergkamp, De Boer and Koeman (Hardman with class). What really annoyed me is they seem not to realize their folly and almost destroyed the game (if they had won) and who did they blame??!! the referee! But I foresee more teams putting in two midfield enforcers to neutralize the stronger more skillful teams. If I was the manager, if it that is what it takes to play Barcelona, so be it!!

Well Next Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzil!!! Can't wait!!! ONLY FOUR YEARS TO GO!!

Friday Music...ones I sort of dislike when I first heard it and still do

Does anyone remember GAZEBO (another spaso name)? when they were famous for "I like Chopin". Another Ah Beng favorite of the 80's. "WAT! I Loooove choh pin!" Ha ha enjoy!!

Friday Music...err.. on a Saturday... ones I never liked - Modern Talking!!

First of all what a name "Modern Talking", more like Euro thrash!! They were popular in the 80's especially among the Ah Bengs in Singapore (what! u thing I scared by you ah!!! Phua Chu Kang is a grown up ah beng!) But deep down I do miss them but don't tell anyone!! I used to hassle my nephew who is a DJ to play them at the clubs he was working at. He however did one day at D'Junction once to my pleasant surprise - almost got up and danced... can you even dance to Modern Talking!!!??? Enjoy the music and try not to puke!!!