Proving the fairer sex...loves their balls as well

Moving House

2006-08-31T02:27:00.000+08:00

Not going to be hanging here anymore.

No particular reason lah, just that...i miss my old blog.

Yup, I used to blog pretty actively on another site, and of another nature. Very different from what you see here. Those who know me understand I thrive on diversity. Haha.

And these days, I'm too tired to write in full sentences all the time anyway, so it's really the best time to move back.

If you like, you can always pay a visit - http://strangecloud.efx2.com/

If not, guess this is adios! : )

Coaches

2006-08-29T08:03:00.000+08:00

Charming coaches with varying styles:

Mr. Focused -
Mike Krzyzewski a.k.a Coach K (Duke University men's basketball)

Mr. Intensity -
Jose Mourinho (Chelsea football mananger)

And Mr. Nice Guy -
Jorg Steinebrunner (Woodlands Wellington coach)

Bangkok

2006-08-25T15:03:00.000+08:00

I love the taxis in Bangkok...they are bright pink!

The cabs in Singapore are comparatively so boring. SMRT should consider switching to pink, seriously. Instead of the dull yellow-top and blue, a dash of dynamic pink will no doubt electrify our roads.

Had a wonderful time immersing myself in the hustle and bustle of busy Bangkok...it's really a shopping haven for all shophaholics. Plus food and beer is cheap!

Have a 'Heineken Draff Bear'? Hahaaa.

And, while I was there, I bought Palmy's new album Beautiful Ride!

Loved the girl since 2004...love her songs, her spunk, her energy on stage. That year, I remembered when I heard Palmy was coming for Tiger Beer's Birthday party concert Euphoria, I jumped at the chance to go and had to psycho my journalist friend in bringing me along to the press con - where i got to shook hands and take photos with here...very memorable - and also get VIP tiks to the concert itself. On this album (her third), she's matured quite a bit, image-wise. But her songs still rock. And that's what's important.

For some odd reason, I returned to Singapore nursing a cold. Bleah. There seems to be a flu bug going around, take care everyone.

Oh Lions, you were so close...

2006-08-18T16:50:00.000+08:00

By now, if you haven't heard of our Singapore national football team's oh-so-very-close encounter against China, you must have been living under a rock.

The Lions put up a gallant fight against their higher-ranked opponents, and was so near to holding them to a draw...then everything crashed down when a penalty was awarded to the Chinese in the very last minute of injury time.

Now, how sway can that be?

But in any case, hopefully, the Lions can keep their heads up and brace themselves for a better challenge when they take on China again in the return leg, right here at the National Stadium!

Fans, time to turn up in full force and recreate the atmosphere during the Tiger Cup! Hehe.

Takuma

2006-08-15T22:18:00.000+08:00

Forget Initial D. This is the real deal.

Hottie on the Grand Prix race tracks...TAKUMA SATO!

Go Super Aguri-Honda!

Takuma looking all delectable in black and white :)

Grasshoppers

2006-08-14T08:41:00.000+08:00

Watching the Grasshoppers 2005 comeback concert is sheer delight...it's like tunneling back in time and revisiting all those songs you love during your childhood.

Remember Bao Bei Dui Bu Qi and Ai Bu Pa, among other catchy, wonderfully irreverent tunes? Only the Grasshoppers could pull them off with such effortless piazzaz.

Besides those jumpy songs, I also like their slow, moving ballads.

失乐园 (Sap Lok Yun) is a perennial favourite of mine.

"结果我共你
仍然逃不过被围攻被舍弃
爱得惊天动地总算运气
无论褒贬尊与卑
爱可有定理
谈情谁讲理越无理越凄美
就算飞天遁地万年千里
亦决定要共你一起

苦恋注定难我已经习惯
沿途承受不留情的双眼
请给我负担叫世上人间
平凡情侣为你共我轰烈汗颜

苦恋注定难我却这样贪
途人凝望中寂静的称赞
请给我负担叫世上人间
惶惶情侣在美丽与悲哀之间
留一线空间..."

MAXIM September

2006-08-12T08:08:00.000+08:00

Check out MAXIM Singapore - the September issue that's just out on newspaper stands.

There's a great feature piece about Fandi Ahmad, with a sidebar about the Young Lions.

"The important thing is you must have the three Ds. That's discpline, determination and dedication."

- Golden words from Singapore' golden boy, Fandi.

Razorlight

2006-08-08T16:33:00.000+08:00

Razorlight's new album ROCKS to the max! Check them out here!

"Oooh darling who needs love?
Who needs a heaven up above?
Who needs the clouds, in the sky, not I

Oooh darling who needs the rain?
Who needs somebody that can feel your pain?
Who needs the disappointment, of a telephone call, not I
No I don't need that at all, not I..."
- Who Needs Love

Another Maria

2006-08-06T10:12:00.000+08:00

I like the tennis show Ace on ESPN Starsports...it's a byte-sized magazine programme that is sufficiently comprehensive. It gives you all the latest ATP and WTA tour rankings, how the players are doing so far, and there's even a segment devoted to the potential rising stars of tomorrow.

Introducing Russian blonde...Maria Kirilenko...

The next Sharapova!

Eternal Life

2006-08-05T23:32:00.000+08:00

Falling in love with his music all over again...

Jeff Buckley
(November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997)

"Eternal life is now on my trail
Got my red glitter coffin, man, just need one last nail
While all these ugly gentlemen play out their foolish games
there's a flaming red horizon that screams our names

And as your fantasies are broken in two
Did you really think this bloody road
would pave the way for you?
You better turn around
and blow your kiss hello to life eternal, angel

Racist everyman, what have you done?
Man, you've made a killer of your unborn son
Crown my fear your king at the point of a gun
All I want to do is love everyone...

And as your fantasies are broken in two
did you really think this bloody road
would pave the way for you?
You better turn around
and blow your kiss hello to life eternal

There's no time for hatred, only questions
Where is love, where is happiness, what is Life,
where is peace?

When will I find the strength to bring me release?
And tell me where is the love in what your prophet has said?
Man, It sounds to me just like a prison for the walking dead
And I've got a message for you and your twisted hell
You better turn around and blow your kiss goodbye
to life eternal, angel..."

- Eternal Life

Too tired to write anything these days. I truly believe music heals the soul.

Walking Underneath

2006-08-02T00:42:00.000+08:00

Love Juno Mak's (麦浚龙) 'Walking Underneath' album.

I can play it over and over again, tirelessly...The lyrics, written mostly by the masterful Wong Wy-man, are heartbreaking. This one is especially touching:

<<没有人>>

"你怎样看亦像凝望我那种不经意却洩露矛盾更多
怎可能无聊之过平常稀疏只因我心多
你守护我但又迴避我却整天吸引著我注意力无处去躲
不管如何有人如此爱我我亦暗里练习如和你告白讲什么

*原来没有从来都没有缠绵邂逅完全虛构
那一刻含情回眸原来是我妄想里的那点綠洲

# 原来没有从来都没有教我紧张得心跳这么久
到了这一刻终于望通透其实爱情来过半分钟也没有..."

Ahhhh. So sad.

Watched

2006-07-31T10:18:00.000+08:00

Random ramblings about stuff i recently watched:

- Russian Dolls (Les Poupees russes)

Hilarious and light-hearted! Very nice...made me want to watch The Spanish Apartment again...

- Lady in the Water

Like all young auteur directors who have gained some fame, M. Night Shyamalan got overly self-indulgent with this one. We need more hits like The Sixth Sense and The Village, not duds like Unbreakable and now...this.

- Anatomy of Hell

I like some of the feminist notions put forward by director Catherine Breillat, but on the whole...this film's line between art and pornography is just a big lump of greyness. My take: Anatomy of Hell is really unbelievably explicit, plus there's pornstar Rocco Siffredi in there, so it's more porn than art.

- Cabaret

Fei Xiang was totally charming, dazzling and flamboyant on stage! Ahhhhh…:)

Sunday on the couch

2006-07-30T09:51:00.000+08:00

It's a Sunday morning, switch on the television, and two out of the three sports channels on tv are showing...golf.

Some more, it's golf-minus-Michelle Wie...now, how boring can that get. Yawnz.

From golf to football -

Good news and bad news for our Young Lions,

- After a successful appeal, they are heading to Doha for the Asian Games! Yeah!

BUT...

- They crashed out last night in the Singapore Cup Quarter-finals to Woodlands Wellington.

Well, guess you can't win everything ya...

Pageant

2006-07-28T02:31:00.000+08:00

Was at a Babe Pageant @ MOS organized by some men's magazine earlier...truth be told, it was disappointing. Despite the tagline of the contest boldly calling the gals "the most desirable…", there is nothing desirable about most of them. 27 girls paraded onstage, but seriously, less than five could make the cut.

Perhaps, it's just me being overly critical, but don't you all agree that there are too many of such 'pageants' these days? And too many of the girls who participate look like they are plucked off Orchard Road (by some blindfolded headhunter...) or simply randomly approached at one of the clubs or pubs. Most look the same - all dolled up, heavily made up, sexy attire. Some don't look half bad, but once they open their mouths...aghast...they just don't realize how sprouting silly answers equates to displaying themselves as airheads.

So, in all, the best thing about the whole night was still...the beer. Hahaa.

If just one of the contestants could look like...Miss Thailand (above), that would have been nice. :)

Bend it like Beckham

2006-07-27T18:01:00.000+08:00

I lurrve this picture of the Arsenal gals lifting the FA Women's Cup trophy.

Don't all of them look wonderfully jubilant and bursting with vivacity? And the FA.com site is really comprehensive...didn't realise there is such an active girls' football scene in England!

On our local front, there are a couple of sites on women's football that are worth checking out -
Diva La Futbol - street soccer for the ladies, and
She Kicks Too - local women's football news

Gals, play on!

Life has its way

2006-07-26T07:43:00.000+08:00

From Yu Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too) -

La vida tiene sus maneras de ensenarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de confundirnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de cambiarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de asombrarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de herirnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de curarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de inspirarnos.

"Life has its way of teaching us. Life has its way of confusing us. Life has its way of changing us. Life has its way of astonishing us. Life has its way of hurting us. Life has its way of curing us. Life has its way of inspiring us."

In my opinion, one of the best films of all time, with a wonderful tagline about this thing called...life. Share it around.

Only You In the World

2006-07-23T21:09:00.000+08:00

Was at JB Neway Karaoke earlier. The experience was...surreal. Imagine meeting someone you've known online for nearly four years, never met up in person before, never crossed your mind to do so...and finally, one day, you decided - it was time.

That kinda happened to me today, just that it wasn't putting one face to a name, but a group of 10. (so those of you thinking this was a blind date...tsk tsk tsk). Yes, 10 faces of folks I've known for the longest time by their netizen personalities, by cute nicknames, emoticons and webspeak. And I got to see them in the flesh today for the first time. How do you describe that sort of feeling? It's like, you've known someone for so long, yet at the same time, this is only the beginning, the start of many hellos.

Anyway, that Neway karaoke was pretty solid...there've got a lot of recent cantonese stuff, so for those of you cantopop-sters, just make your way across the Causeway to our neighbour and you can sing your heart out.

Ironically, today, it wasn't any C-pop song that caught my eye & ears. It was a song 世界唯一的你 (Only You in the World) by 曹格 (Gary Cao).

Simple lyrics, a wonderful MTV, and of course, a beautiful voice to boot.

是你
一眼我就认出来
这是命运最美丽的安排
是爱
让你掠过漫长等待
我们只要现在相爱
幸福就来

恨我来不及参于你的过去
抱歉让你等待
我愿意付出一切交换
我灵魂的另一半

这个世界唯一的你
是我拥有的奇迹
对我说的一字一句
都是我们的秘密
紧紧拥抱唯一的你
无可救药的坚定
就算世界与我为敌
我也愿意
我什么都愿意

Horny

2006-07-21T01:07:00.000+08:00

Why is Young Lions keeper Fadhil Salim looking so down?

Perhaps, it's cos the the cubs lost unfortunately to Tampines Rovers tonight...their third loss now in the S.League 2006 season. Which just adds to the blow that the Singapore National Olympic Council landed on their laps not too long ago -- basically, SNOC deprived them of the chance to represent Singapore @ the Doha Asian Games. The cubs really got to start bucking up now, should they want their appeal process to go through successfully!

Putting Young Lions aside, tomorrow night's game should be an exciting one. Home United vs Woodlands Wellington...my bets, of course, are on the Protectors.

Tomorrow, their Brazilian midfielder Carlos Alberto will be back (not very flattering in this pic, but trust me, he looks good in person)...

Though the silky Jeon Kyeong Joon will be missing...due to suspension.

Ahh, the S.League is becoming a little United Nations of sorts with their exciting pool of foreign players! :)

Had my fill of wine just now and feeling a bit horny...so I shall move on to talk about a 'horny' topic. Hahahahaa. It was in the news recently - an ITE trainer was discovered masturbating in a classroom, believed to be filmed on one of his student's camera phone.

Of cos, young kids being highly curious & excited about sex at that age, circulated that video clip on the Internet and pooof!...there goes the ITE trainer's career. Down the drain.

Actually, the trainer should have known better than to DIY in the school premises. Cannot even control for a while meh.

Yes, we all know teachers are humans too, have desires & needs too and let's face it, everyone does it. No matter how saintly, how geeky, how nerdy, how religious you are, you've probably done it sometime in your life. Some on a regular basis, most guys perhaps having started much younger than their female counterparts.

BUT...ALAMAK...it's not something you talk about openly, and most certainly not for display in public. School grounds - no no! Best place? Of course within the confines of your locked bedroom lah.

I'll most probably regret writing this when I'm less heady tomorrow morning...but...heck. Hee.

Yida

2006-07-20T14:28:00.000+08:00

匿名的宝贝

我思念在你眼中那一片海水
有一种让我心痛的美
于是我选择自己孤单的睡
下半辈子让我不相信的理由
我想是你对不对

你是个匿名的宝贝
藏在我心里的眼泪
不管你带走了什么, 我都因为爱过你觉得美
永远不忘记你的我
像一个孤魂和野鬼
在这个世界上受苦风吹雨打, 我都无所谓

你是个匿名的宝贝
藏在我心里飞呀飞
如果还能有那一天, 请你回头看我一眼醒了没
不必安慰我, 你知道我不累
哦~爱你怎么会累

It's all in the lyrics.

Say Yes

2006-07-18T07:52:00.000+08:00

Ahh...I'm so hooked to Say Yes Enterprise...following it religiously, disc after disc (bringing it back memories of the days I used to be mesmerised by Jap dramas), much to the distaste of my brother. Haha.

Of course, what my brother doesn't understand is, this Taiwanese series isn't like any other ou xiang ju, you noe...the usual idol drama with pretty boys and pretty girls. I didn't even bother to watch Meteor Garden or any of the F4 shows, but this one, I liked it from the start as it dealt with more edgy storylines. Like the segment 'The Graduate', which is about the Oedipus-type romance between Li Wei and Cecilia Yip...

"我们终于从这一种全世界都反对我们的战争中毕业了."

Awwww. A 20-year age gap jie di lian might be too much of a stretch in real life, but somehow, when love has to battle against the biggest odds of all - societal convention, you can't help but root for it.

Football...Future?

2006-07-15T08:59:00.000+08:00

Lionel Lewis, goalkeeper of Home United (and also custodian of the national team), is one of the best players in the S.League.

I caught parts of the Tampines vs Home match on Channel NewsAsia last night and he was in excellent form as usual. There was one moment when he was knocked down by...his own teammate. Aiyoh.

Anyway, the Singapore National Olympic Council's decision to drop the Lions from the Asian Games (or more rightly, the Young Lions, cos' the Asian Games is U-23) is truly disappointing. If there's all this talk about developing and furthering the potential of our young players, why deprive them the chance to excel & dazzle on a bigger stage?

SNOC, reconsider your decision!!

Zouk

2006-07-14T11:38:00.000+08:00

What an interesting and memorable night. Heh.

Gals, grrrls, vodka and eye-candy in the form of a...

little white shirt. Hmmmmm.

Oh the Horror

2006-07-12T00:16:00.000+08:00

In the face of terrorism...

everything else seems so frivolous.

Grand Slam in her Bag

2006-07-09T22:27:00.000+08:00

Amelie Mauresmo...

WIMBLEDON CHAMPION!

I caught parts of the match when it replayed on Star Sports today, and Mauresmo was really fantastic. She was so cool against Henin-Hardenne and showed no sign of nerves even though she was clearly the underdog going into the final...no one had piped her to win, everyone thought Henin would have it easy.

But Mauresmo...it was simply her day man.

And unlike the Australian Open (which she won - coincidentally also against Henin-Hardenne - but it was such a letdown final then, cos Henin retired halfway due to stomach problems), her Wimbledon trophy is definitely no fluke.

THIS WAS THEN: Henin (left) being comforted by Mauresmo (right) at the Aussie Open - a disappointing final for many viewers.

Tennis aside...

World Cup FINAL tonight @ 2am!

Half of Singapore's population is probably strategizing how to siam work tomorrow...planning their MCs and urgent leaves. Wahaha.

Scolari

2006-07-06T17:34:00.000+08:00

Portugal...LOST! To a penalty!

And I failed to wake up for the game...despite having set the alarm clock and I even remember pressing it down...gosh, I used to be able to stay up two nights in a row...where have all that energy gone?? Hahaha.

Anyway, caught the FIFA Breakfast Show in the morning, and after watching the game highlights, I felt two people deserve special mention:

French keeper Barthez!

He made a couple of nice saves...

And the Portuguese coach Scolari!

He's sooo animated by the sidelines...just as entertaining to watch as the players on the pitch.