All style, no substance?

This guy:

Michael Essien
Chelsea's midfielder
Commented that Arsenal is all style and no substance.
In other words, they are all crap besides looking good.

His exact words were:
"Everybody likes to watch beautiful football, but to play beautiful football without points is… I don’t think it’s worth it. Arsenal is one of those teams that just plays beautiful football, but at the end of the day they don’t get the points that they want to."

Also, he said, "For me, I don’t care. To be rough and get three points, or play well and get three points—win ugly or beautifully—I don’t care."

Do you agree with him?
I don't.

Firstly, I think Essien's perception of substance is way too shallow.
Substance is not just about winning the title and scoring.
It includes how well is your defense, how well the team coordinated in terms of creating chances or grabbing opportunities and so on.
And frankly speaking, you certainly require a certain unassailable level of substance to be able to play with style.
Does it mean that your team is full of substance if you can score plenty of goals but you have never played a nice game because the goals were just plain lucky or through dirty tricks?
If Chelsea can play like Arsenal and still scoring that well, then I have nothing to say.

Secondly, Essien made his judgement based on the assumption that Arsenal compromised on their scoring performance due to the emphasis on skills.
Playing a beautiful game is actually a sign respect to the soccer fans as well as to the team itself.
Essien would probably never able to understand this.
You will have no regrets although you have lost in the end because you know that you have given your best and you played it impressively.
Furthermore, Wenger has just managed to silence the critics by the triumph over Manchester United in the recent game.
Style can be side by side with Substance.
Does this mean that Manchester United has no substance?
Certainly not!
Why so?
because we know it deep in our hearts, they have played a great game.
Sometimes, maybe, maybe it's just not your time yet.

Lastly, I don't think that Arsenal have it wrong as suggested by Essien.
Instead, "Wenger deserves huge admiration for the way he insists his team goes about its business," as agreed Phil McNulty.
Look at the youngsters that Wenger has trained.
The skills and vision that they possess.
They are the playmakers in every game.
So, what's wrong now with playing a beautiful game without points?
Although I must admit that winning the title is also very important,
this is something that Arsenal can work towards perfecting the team,
every team has its own way of playing,
and the Style is what makes Arsenal stands out from the rest.

Keep it up and go all the way!

The gunners.

SPM

All the best to all my malaysian friends who are taking their SPM tomorrow!
I know this is kind of late but I hope that you all can see this.
Rest early so that you can be absolutely focused for tomorrow's paper.
And most importantly, be confident!
It is either you have prepared or the other way round.
If you are fully prepared, all the more that you have nothing to worry about.
You can never say that you have studied EVERYTHING, you know it.
So, please not let your unnecessary emotions penalise you even before you begin on the paper.
Else, if you have not prepared, you also should not worry because you have nothing more to lose.
All that you gain from the exams will just be bonus to you.
So stay confident, and see how much extra bonus can you gain=)
The more the merrier, so aim high!
Unexpected events always occur, you will never know.
Oh ya, and don't you think that exams are more fun to you all compared to those that have fully prepared because there is this additional excitement in it where either you spot on the questions or you get something totally alien to you which is challenging=) We all love challenging stuff, don't you agree?
OKay, so in other words, you all have no reason not to do well, at least within expectations and it must be the highest attainable point.

By the way, 我强调：一分耕耘，一分收获。
这还是最基本且无可否决的原理。
虽说运气与临场表现也有份主宰你的成绩结果，
世上没有免费的午餐，
如何在变数中掌握至多的控制权，
关键就在于你是否明白这道理，
不劳而获并不是大自然的一部分=)
认命吧！

FacOuting

Yesterday night, I went to alloha Changi for faculty outing.
Theme: scary.
Around ten from our class were present there.
Went there late because YuRong and I waited for RuiXian and ShiHuan who were having Biology Olympiad competition that ended rather late.
Luckily YuRong was together with me at the Bouna Vista MRT.
Okay, back to the outing, a chalet was booked for the event.
Then, inside there are rooms where I suppose games designed to scare you were going on.
We arrived late, so couldn't really play the games.
Luckily there was still food.
Otherwise RuiXian would have to treat all of us.
Did I see any ghost? No, but there were countless pretty girls :P
Nevertheless, there were still people dressing in weird costumes.
I simply wore a black shirt because I was doing my research in the morning.
How dis I feel about the outing?
Maybe due to the fact that I went there late, I basically did not get the fun of it.
It felt like the event just ended not long after we arrived, not even warmed up.
Till now, I still don't see the meaning why I am blogging about all these.
I just feel like writing something.

Nevermind, Here is another thing that I can talk about:
昨天，我在报纸上读到一则相当可笑的新闻。
标题写着：
马国现任首相阿都拉认为
在马来西亚，来自少数民族也可担任首相。
我究竟该说他极度肤浅抑或是过度自信呢？
凭他的言行举措，想必答案明显只有那个。
他们何时才会成熟独立仍是个未知数，
还说什么掌权者有机会是非马来人!
要达到美国般的开放与民主程度？
我不说不可能啦，只是难如登天而已嘛。
恳请他别再作出类似的发表，
声望已被自己的办事与领导能力左右了，
别再为自己德愚昧加分，雪上加霜。

Change has come to America

First of all, congratulation to the new owner of this house:

All of you must have known who is he.
Barrack Obama
The newly-elected 44th president of the United States.

He has won my vote simply through his skin colour.
I can feel the meaning of him being elected to the US and also to the rest of the world.
I can sense hope and freedom.
The world is changing, for the better.
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," he said in the first sentence of his speech.
With him being the history defying proof, I totally agree with what he has said.
Sadly, I probably would not live long enough to see this level of democracy attained in my country.
Or perhaps, it will always be a myth.
Barack Obama has committed himself to doing more on global warming and wants greenhouse gases reduced by 80% by 2050.
This will be one of the most important issues of his presidency, as the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and negotiations about a follow-up have stalled.
I hope that he will do a great job in this aspect.
Lets enjoy his wonderful and inspiring speech:

He is the first ever African-American to be elected as the president.
Years back, who would even think that this might happen?
But, before our eyes, he made it.
With the fullest respect, I present to you the Black Man in the White House, president Barrack Obama!

ProjectWork

Today was the assesment day for PW Oral Presentation.
So glad that PW finally ended!
Can you believe that? It is ended!
It was a great relief=)
And most importantly, all our effort have not been put into waste.
The unlimited time that we have spent in completing our project and rehersing on our OP has eventually been paid off handsomely.
The enormous change in the first draft of our work, be it written report or the presentation slides, compared to our final product is so unbelievable.
I really couldn't expressed in words how grateful I am towards my group members at this point in time.
Also, not to forget, our beloved mentor Mr ChrisHo!
I am sure we all love him=)
All I want to say now is that I cherish the bond that we have forged within our group.
I sincerely want to thank every single one of you for making PW so memorable and enjoyable to me.
I agree to Steffi, it is hard to imagine anyone of us missing from the group as every single one of us contributed in our own way to the synergy that our group possesses.
Without any one of our unique characters, our group spirit might not even exist anymore.
Thanks everyone for making me more discipline XD
Forgive me for all my disruptions during discussions as sometimes I just couldn't stand it but to joke around so as to cheer the group up :P

Today, after our OP, I asked a question: So, what do we do after PW?
JuatYing then replied: Go and eat.
But what I was actually trying to refer to was our PW group.
Since that now our OP has ended, where do we go from here?
Does it mean that we are not going to work together as a group anymore?
Does it mean that our bond is going to weaken as time passed by?
Does it mean that we will just disband?
I asked the question because I suddenly feel a gust of emptiness in me.
Long live Wild Wild WE!

OKay, after that. we went t Bukit Timah Plaza to have Pizza Hut with the other groups that have presented at the morning timeslot.
These are the people:

Bryan, I, YuTong, RuiXian, ZongNing(top)
Joelynn, Steffi, Jolene, Denyse(middle)
Eleanor, JuatYing(Front)
We played 终极密码.
Bingo will taste the "delicious soup" with pepper, cheese, pepsi, cili and what not added.
It looked more like some evil-looking concoction to me.
I got the number twice.
Trust me, you will puke if you taste the soup.
Then, in some unknown ways, ZongNing was asked to perform a dare.
After resisting for quite some time, he finally did it.
He went over the to table beside where someone elses were eating there and sat there for 3 seconds..haha

My PW group also took some picture together there:





Next, I was dragged to Orchard Road by the guys.
Initial plan was to watch Tropic Thunder.
Then somebody said he wanted to save some money.
So in the end, after a long debate, we did nothing but stone outside the cinema.
Afterwhich, we walked to the Borders to look around and see if there was any interesting books.
I then went to Kinokuniya with RuiXian to look for some SAT reference book.
There were 3 different types due to different publishers.
The contents were quite different too.
So I couldn't make up my mind as to which one is the right choice.
And I shall seek opinion from others who are more knowledgable about this.
Lastly, we went to HMV to look at and listen to some of the new albums.

That's still not the end of my day...
We then went over to YuJie's house at Seragoon.
So far....
Anyway, I enjoyed my time there=)
Many others from our class went too.
We played cards and mahjong.
Some of the rest were playing the XBOX or some boardgame.
And I 自摸清一色 today. muahahaha
YuJie's mom was so nice, brought us towel because we were drenched by the rain while walking to her house=)
We also had apple, green tea and oreo.
Moreover, no 10% service charge like the pizza hut=)
It took me 1 hour to get back from YuJie's house

Today was tiring but fun!
Starting from tomorrow, I will resume my research at IMB.
Hopefully it can be completed within this month.

Wonderful Animation

Found a nice animation on youtube that I thought of sharing with you all:
The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello

I particularly enjoyed the sounds and music that make you expereience and feel as though you are really present in that place, the storyline as well as the use of animated silhouttes.

Background information on the animation:
Nominated for an Oscar and for a BAFTA award, Jasper Morello is a short feature made in a unique style of silhouette animation developed by director Anthony Lucas and inspired by the work of authors Edgar Alan Poe and Jules Verne.
In the frontier city of Carpathia, Jasper Morello discovers that his former adversary Doctor Claude Belgon has returned from the grave. When Claude reveals that he knows the location of the ancient city of Alto Mea where the secrets of life have been discovered, Jasper cannot resist the temptation to bring his own dead wife Amelia back. But they are captured by Armand Forgette, leader of the radical Horizontalist anti-technology movement, who is determined to reanimate his terrorist father Vasco. As lightning energises the arcane machineries of life in the floating castle of Alto Mea, Jasper must choose between having his beloved restored or seeing the government of Gothia destroyed. Set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, this gothic horror mystery tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his Plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself.
Also winner of the Grand Prix award at the Annecy Animation Festival, Jasper has also won the top honours at the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival, Best Animation at Flickerfest 2005, Best Animation at the Sydney Film Festival Dendy awards and Best Animation at Toronto worldwide shorts.

This animation made me recall a short snimation that I watched long long ago:

There isn't a word spoken but the emotions are elegantly and thoroughly conveyed.

For what is a man? What has he got?

Yesterday, I watched a horror movie: 4biaIn my opinion, this is the best horror movie of the year.

So all horror fans, this is a must-see.

It is composed of 4 differrent but related stories.

This is not the main point as I personally find the link between them quite superfluous.

Apart from that, it has fantastic sound and visual effects (one of the most important elements required for horror movie), brilliant camera shooting angles and marvelous storyline.

Additionally, the director is very good at cost-cutting.

For the first story, a girl, a room and a phone, done!

For the second story, it has the best camera maneuvers. The film is elegant with digital effects.

For the third story, four men, a tent and a river, done. Best plot with a shocking twist.

For the four story, sorry to say that this is the least appealing to me perhaps due to high expectations that have built in me by the previous 3 stories. Nevertheless, it has a few scary moments. Oh ya, not to mention, just a plane was used for this story and obviously they do not really need a real plane and fly them in the air.

Next, the day before yesterday, I watched Cellular.

If you ask me, what makes a man?

I will tell you that the main character in this movie is the answer!

The movie started with the portrayal of this guy who is dumped by his girlfriend due to his levity.

To prove himself, he took on a simple task suggested by his girlfiriend.

Suddenly, while was halfway doing his task, he received a random call from a kidnapped woman asking for help using a shattered phone and he happened to be her only source of help.

Also, he must do everything to ensure that the line is not disconnected, otherwise the woman might not be able to get back to anybody for help.

It took him some time to put down his task on hand and decided to help the woman.

He then got involved, committed and finally determined to save the woman and her entire family.

He risked everything just to save the family even tough he was scared at times.

And what more can a victim like the woman ask for?

He is her only hope.

What did the man do in details, why was the woman kidnapped and what's the ending.

I am not going to spoil you, so go and watch yourself.

Actually, there is a remake of this movie in Chinese version this year: Connected
Comments so far is that the Chinese version is better.

I think they probably expanded on the emotion component if I am not wrong.

For that's the only thing that I can think of changing.

No worries if you haven't get a chance to watch Connected as I think watching cellular is already good enough.

The most memorable scene in the movie to me is the part where he was negotiating with the culprits whether to release the family first or to surrender them what they want first.

And this guy, trying to act smart, telling them that they lose and cut off the line as they refused to release the family first.

He was so worried that he had made the wrong choice and that they would not call back and straight away kill the family.

Fortunately, it was worth risking, they called him back as the thing they wanted is really very important to them.

I like the way he acted out the emotions while he was waiting for them to call back, or rather hoping that they will call back. It's so real and funny.

And you just can't wait to say "nice one" because that's indeed not a bad tactic to use.

OKay, lastly, I would like to recommend a song: 我还想她 - 林俊杰

It's a song in his latest album, JJ陆 Sixology